Harry Potter: Second Generation
by Violet Owls
Summary: The second generation are finally having their turn at Hogwarts, and although Voldemort is gone, trouble still lurks in the corners of Hogwarts. Join them as friendships are made, families torn apart, and enemies prosper. {credit to Lighto for picture}
1. The Beginning

**Chapter One: The Beginning**

1 September 2017

Rose stared out the window as she watched her family slowly start to fade from view; her smiling, proud father, her crying but smiling mother, her brother who looked slightly envious, and the rest of her extended family who were waving excitedly at her.

She waved back at them, trying to push the feeling of homesick, that had already settled in her stomach, away. She swallowed a lump in her throat and waved a final goodbye before they went completely out of view.

Rose turned around to look at her cousin, Albus, and was suddenly glad to have him here with her. They were always close growing up and she'd be feeling lost without him. She felt slightly relieved as she noticed he was looking homesick as well. At least she wasn't the only one.

James, Albus' brother and Rose's cousin, was standing beside Albus, but unlike him was smiling and not looking one bit homesick. He looked more excited than he'd been all summer.

'You should go find somewhere to sit,' he informed Rose and Albus, for once being helpful.

'Can't we sit with you?' Albus asked, looking lost.

James snorted. 'No way; I don't need my little brother and cousin hanging on to me like lost puppies.'

Rose smiled to herself. She knew he wouldn't be helpful for long. She was slightly glad. It was a little unnerving him being nice to her. She was used to him playfully teasing her, not giving her advice. It seemed unnatural for him to be actually nice.

'Besides,' James continued, looking at Albus. 'You need to make some friends. You certainly need more.'

He grinned before ruffling Albus' hair and walking off towards a group of second year guys. They greeted James with high five's before laughing loudly and entering a compartment. Rose stared after them, wondering if she would be like that next year; so happy and comfortable.

'I guess we're on our own,' Albus muttered.

Rose nodded and in a voice much braver than she felt she said, 'We should go find a compartment.'

She led Albus down through the train, glancing in at each compartment. However each compartment was either full or had a few students from older years in them who glared at Rose and Albus, indicating they shouldn't even try joining their compartment. They eventually came to an empty compartment right at the back of the train.

Sitting down, Rose noticed that Albus was looking even paler than usual and he hadn't said much. Albus was naturally a quiet person, but he seemed unusually quiet today.

'Are you okay?' Rose asked, looking at her cousin in concern.

Albus paused for a second before nodding. 'Just a bit nervous.'

Rose smiled in understanding and was about to tell him it was normal to be nervous, when the compartment door flew open. Two guys the same age as Rose and Albus strode in, radiating arrogance.

'It appears that this is the only first year compartment that isn't full,' one of the boys announced. He was tall for his age with dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. He looked extremely cocky and full of himself. 'So you're going to have to share this compartment with myself and my friend.'

He sounded sure of himself but Rose could see that he looked slightly worried that Albus and Rose might not allow them to stay. Rose smirked to herself.

She looked over at Albus who was looking unusually scared. He wasn't normally like that around new people. He was shy, yes. But scared? She looked at him with a confused expression as he began shaking his head slightly, indicating not to let them in. However Rose didn't want to make any enemies on her first day so simply gave Albus an apologetic look before telling them they could join their compartment.

The boy smirked, and himself and his friend sat down as far away from Rose and Albus as they could, as if they might catch some horrible disease off them. Rose rolled her eyes at their behavior before turning back to Albus.

'What's wrong?' she asked, hoping the boys couldn't hear their conversation, but as she was the only one talking she knew they could.

Albus leaned forward to get closer to Rose. 'Isn't that the boy that your father told you not to get friendly with? He doesn't look nice, neither does his friend.'

Rose looked over at the boy. He was looking out the door, which allowed her to examine him without seeming too weird. He had light blonde hair and dark, greyish eyes that had flecks of blue in them. He appeared to think he was better than everyone else and had an air of arrogance about him. Rose could see why her father didn't want her becoming friends with him.

'Well yes, dad told me to beat him at everything. He didn't seem to like his father,' Rose said, answering Albus' question.

'Won't you father be mad at you for talking to him then?' Albus asked, still whispering.

Rose shrugged. 'I don't know, but I'm not going to judge him before I actually have a proper conversation with him, Al. And you shouldn't either.'

'How sweet of you,' sneered the boy, looking at Rose for the first time. 'Did your father tell you all about me then? And my family?'

Rose blushed and glared at him. 'No. He just told me your name was Scorpius.'

'And not to get friendly with me?'

Rose hesitated. 'Well yes but –'

'Well you better not talk to me then, seeing as you seem like the type of girl who does everything she's told to do,' he said, turning back to stare out the door. She noticed he appeared to be staring at someone.

'I don't do _everything_ I'm told to do,' Rose said, feeling insulted.

Scorpius snorted again but didn't bother replying or even taking his gaze off whoever he was looking at.

Rose glared at him before crossing her arms and staring out the window, feeling irritated. She sighed after a moment, feeling annoyed at herself for even caring. He was just one boy, why did it bother her so much? She refused to let him ruin her first day.

'What house do you want to be in, Al?' she asked, turning to look at her cousin. He looked relieved that she'd stopped looking angry.

'Gryffindor I think, like my dad,' he said smiling.

'Gryffindor?' snorted the other boy. 'Why on earth would you want to be in Gryffindor! Slytherin all the way!'

Scorpius took a second to look over to his friend and grin at him before returning to staring out the door.

'Of course you two would want to be in Slytherin…' muttered Albus.

The other boy looked up and glared at Albus. Not wanting a fight, Rose spoke up, 'Slytherin's not that bad, Al. Louis' in Slytherin.'

'Who's Louis?' the boy asked.

'One of my cousins,' Rose answered in a surprised tone. She was wondering why he was even talking to her.

He nodded his head, not making any other remarks.

'What's your name?'

'Lucas but my friends call me Luke,' he told her before looking away quickly, as if realising he was actually talking to her.

Rose sighed at his attitude.

'What about you, Rose?' Albus asked.

'What?' Rose asked, frowning. She was slightly distracted thinking about Luke. She wondered if he was just raised not to talk to wizards he considered lesser, or if he actually was that snobby.

'What house do you want to be in?'

'Oh, I don't really mind,' Rose answered, thinking about it. Any house would be fine, though perhaps not Slytherin. Not that she had anything against them; she just wouldn't really fit in there.

Scorpius snorted again and looked over at Rose. 'You really wouldn't mind being in Hufflepuff? The left overs?'

Rose frowned. 'No, they're loyal people. I wouldn't mind at all.'

He turned away muttering, 'Pathetic.'

'What?' Rose glared at him.

'You can't even make your mind up about which house you want to be in. I've known for years that I wanted to be in Slytherin.'

Rose could feel her temper rising and forced herself not to shout, 'Well at least my father will be proud of me no matter what house I'm put in.'

Scorpius turned around, his eyes blazing with anger. Clearly Rose wasn't the only one with anger problems.

'So your father _has_ told you about me and my family.'

Rose blushed and turned to look out the window. 'He might have mentioned something about your family…'

There was a cold, awkward silence before the door flew open. Rose looked over and was relieved to see one of her cousins, Roxie, standing there.

'Hey Rosie, can I stay here?' she asked. Not waiting for a reply she plopped herself down beside Rose.

'Of course,' Rose replied. 'But we've been on the train for almost an hour, where've you been?'

'Well I was sitting with some guys from our year that I met on the platform. Mum and dad know some of their parents. But then I got bored of all the boy talk, so I came to find you and Al,' she told Rose, smiling brightly.

Rose couldn't help but smile back; Roxie was such a happy person. Her real name was Roxanne but nobody called her that unless she was in trouble. She was gorgeous with slightly tanned skin, dark brown eyes, and hair that looked black but was actually a dark brown colour. She always had guys looking at her wherever she went but instead of being flattered she was annoyed as she thought she was too young to date.

'Who are they?' Roxie asked, smiling at Scorpius and Luke. 'Are they your friends?'

'No,' Albus replied shortly.

'That's Luke, and that's Scorpius,' Rose told Roxie after there was an awkward silence.

'Hi,' Roxie greeted, smiling at them still.

Scorpius looked over at her and nodded before turning back to staring out the door. Luke however smiled at her and said hello before turning to Scorpius and trying to talk to him.

'Well, they're, uh… nice,' muttered Roxie to Rose.

She smiled at Roxie and was about to start up a conversation with her when a lady popped her head into the compartment, asking them if we wanted anything from the trolley.

Albus and Rose grinned at each other.

The next few hours would have been unbearable if Roxie hadn't decided to stay with Rose and Albus. Rose was relieved that she wouldn't have to try and talk to Scorpius or Luke who both seemed set on ignoring her and Albus.

Before the train had even fully stopped, Luke and Scorpius had exited the compartment. Roxie, Albus, and Rose followed after them slowly. The train was packed and was full of excited voices as the made their way off the train.

'Oh, there's Fred,' Roxie suddenly said as they got off the train. 'I've got to go talk to him. I'll see you two in the hall.'

She quickly hugged Rose before running over to her brother. He seemed annoyed that his little sister was talking to him in school.

Rose laughed at them before following Albus down to the lake where all the first years were gathering around an enormously tall man who was badly in need of a haircut and a shave.

'That must be Hagrid,' Albus whispered to Rose as they grew closer. Rose was surprised that he was still working in Hogwarts but wasn't surprised at all to see that most of his hair was grey.

Hagrid had finished talking by the time Albus and Rose reached him, and all the other first years were piling into boats. Most of he boats were full so they decided to get into one that had only one other person in it. The person was a small girl who looked extremely nervous.

Rose sat down beside the girl and smiled at her. 'I'm Rose.'

'Hi,' she said smiling weakly. 'I'm Lauren.'

'And I'm Albus, but people just call me Al,' piped in Al quickly, as if he was scared of being left out.

'Are you okay?' Rose asked as the boat set off and Lauren looked like she was going to be sick.

'I just have a slight fear of boats… And water. I'll be fine once we get to land.'

Someone snorted from another boat. Rose knew it was Scorpius before she even looked around. A few other boys in the boat started sniggering when Rose glared at them.

'I bet she's a mudblood,' one of the boys said, referring to Lauren.

Lauren blushed and Rose sighed.

'Just ignore them,' Rose told her.

'Are your parents Muggles?' Albus asked with interest.

'Yes,' Lauren replied, turning away from the boys in the boat.

'Really?' asked Albus looking excited. He, like his granddad had a bit of an obsession with Muggle's and Muggle objects.

Lauren and Albus, much to Rose's boredom, decided to spend the rest of the boat ride discussing multiple Muggle artifacts. They were still babbling on about Muggle's even after Professor McGonagall had introduced herself and explained all about Hogwarts and the houses. They only stopped when they walked into the Great Hall and became speechless as they stared at the ceiling.

'It's so pretty,' Lauren sighed as they reached the top of the hall.

Albus nodded in agreement and was about to add something when Professor McGonagall began calling out names to be sorted. Rose stood still and chewed her lip as each person was called up. She had said on the train that she didn't mind which house she was in but for some reason now that she was standing waiting to be sorted she was getting nervous.

The Sorting Hat wasn't even placed on Lauren's head for a minute before it shouted she was in Ravenclaw, which Lauren looked thrilled about. When Albus' name was called he looked like he was going to be sick and slowly made his way up and sat on the stool.

'Ah, a Potter!' the Sorting Hat announced.

There were whispers of excitement around the hall at Albus' name. The hat grew unnaturally silent for a few moments before Albus paled.

'Gryffindor!' the hat finally roared.

The Gryffindor table burst out into applause at this. Albus got off the stool looking slightly shaken up but happier than he had looked all day. He ran down to the table and joined his house.

'Scorpius Malfoy,' called out Professor McGonagall.

He smirked but seemed to grow paler as he made his way up to the stool. Probably scared of what would happen if he didn't get into Slytherin, thought Rose.

'A Malfoy,' muttered the hat. The minutes ticked by and it looked like the hat and Scorpius were having an argument about something.

Moments later however it roared, 'Slytherin!'

Rose rolled her eyes as a relieved Scorpius made his way to his table. Luke was called a few names later and also got his wish, ending up in Slytherin with Scorpius.

It finally came to Rose's turn. She was one of the last and was relieved when her name was finally called.

The hat barely touched her head before the hat shouted in an amused voice, 'A Weasley!'

It paused and Rose grew nervous. The faces of the students sitting at the tables stared at her as they waited for the hat's verdict.

'Hmm,' the hat muttered. 'Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?'

Rose knew the hat was speaking so low that only she could hear it. It seemed to be asking her which house she preferred. Panic struck Rose and she regretted not giving what house she wanted to be in more thought. She knew she was clever and Ravenclaw was such a nice house, but then again Gryffindor was where her family was and also where her parents had been. They'd be so proud if she followed in their footsteps. Still…

'Ravenclaw!' the hat roared a second later.

Rose froze and Professor McGonagall had to give her a gentle nudge in order to get her to move towards her house table. In a daze she made her way towards Ravenclaw and away from her family. She sat down, not wanting to even look over at the Gryffindor table. What would they say?

'Hey Rosie,' a gentle voice greeted.

Rose looked up and was relieved to see her eldest cousin, Victoire smiling kindly at her. She'd forgotten that Victoire and Dominique were in Ravenclaw. At least she'd have some family.

Rose forced a smile, not sure the hat had made the correct choice and turned her attention back to the sorting. A girl with light blonde hair and mischievous green eyes was getting sorted. She was grinning around the room as if she didn't have a care in the world, which was unusual for someone getting sorted.

'Slytherin!' the hat roared after a few moments of silence.

The girl got down off the school and made her way towards the Slytherin table, giving Rose a wave as she passed by, making Rose laugh.

The few left were sorted quickly and then Professor McGonagall stood up and waited for silence. The whole hall grew quiet as they stared at her.

'Welcome,' she said smiling around. 'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I hope that you'll all have another excellent year here. I'm sure, as always, that you are extremely hungry and wanting to eat, so I won't delay you any further.'

McGonagall clapped her hands and at once there was food in front of everyone. Chatter broke out in the hall all at once and Rose began to pile the food onto her plate.

'Vic and I knew you'd be in Ravenclaw,' Dominique told Rose as they all began eating. 'Everyone in the family always takes bets about where each cousin will be placed.'

Rose laughed slightly. She had no idea that her family did that.

'Of course everyone was split between either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw for you,' Victoire put in. 'Your mother was convinced you'd be in Ravenclaw but your dad was sure you'd be in Gryffindor.'

Rose felt her stomach twist. Would her father be disappointed now?

'What about Albus?' Rose asked, trying to divert the subject away from herself.

'Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.'

'Hufflepuff?' Rose asked in amazement.

Victoire laughed. 'Of course. He's so quiet and kind. Definite Hufflepuff characteristics.'

Rose stared down at her food, picturing Albus in Hufflepuff. She had to agree that he certainly did have a lot of Hufflepuff traits.

'Are they your cousins?' a voice asked a moment later when Victoire and Dominique had started up a conversation with somebody else.

Rose looked over and saw that Lauren was sitting beside her. She must have been in such a daze that she hadn't even noticed her. Rose nodded, answering Lauren's question and was surprised when her eyes widened.

'The head girl is your cousin?'

Rose laughed as she remembered that Victoire had been picked as head girl.

'Yes, I suppose she is,' Rose said, wondering if that would mean she'd get in less trouble. Of course Rose doubted she'd ever be in much trouble.

She spent most of the feast getting to know Lauren and chatting with her two cousins. As time went on, she grew more comfortable with being in Ravenclaw. After all, she _had_ said she didn't mind which house she was chosen to be in.

The room suddenly became quiet as McGonagall stood up once more.

'Now that you've finished eating, I must give you a few first term notices. First off, the Forbidden Forest, is as usual, out of bounds to _everyone_,' she looked over at James and his friends. 'Quidditch tryouts are being held the third week of school this year instead of the second, and finally just a reminder that magic should not be used in the corridors in between classes. I think that's all, so off to bed all of you.'

The first years as usual were escorted by one of their house prefects out of the hall. As Rose and Lauren were waiting for the staircase to change with the Slytherin's and Hufflepuff's, Rose noticed Scorpius was standing near her. She took a deep breath and turned around to face him.

'Look, I'm sorry for losing my temper earlier on the train and for what I said about your father,' she forced out. She wasn't very good at apologies.

Scorpius looked at her a second before glancing around and seeing his friends near by.

'Whatever,' was all he said before turning back to his friends. Rose glared at his back.

'Ignore him,' someone said beside her.

Looking over, Rose saw it was the girl who'd waved to her.

'I'm Megan,' the girl introduced.

'I'm Rose, and this is Lauren,' Rose told her, remembering Lauren was still beside her.

Megan grinned back at them. 'Well you should just ignore Scorpius. He may seem arrogant but it's only just an act because he's so insecure.'

Rose glanced over at Scorpius and saw he was glaring at Megan.

'Isn't that right?' Megan asked, turning around to Scorpius.

He just glared at her and Megan smiled back sweetly. Rose wondered why he didn't say anything, but didn't get time to ask as the stairs had changed and the Ravenclaw's were being led away.

'For those of you who don't know, to enter our common room you must answer a riddle,' Victoire informed the first years as they arrived at a doorway with a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Victoire used the knocker and the eagle came alive.

'What word starts with "E", ends with "E", but only has one letter?' the eagle asked.

Victoire paused for a moment as the first years stared at her.

'Envelope,' she replied with certainty.

'Correct,' the knocker told her as the door opened.

Rose looked around in amazement as she entered her new home. She'd heard countless stories of the Gryffindor common room and knew every detail of it, however she hadn't heard much about the Ravenclaw common room and it fascinated her.

The common room was a wide, circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows with blue and bronze silks, and a domed ceiling painted with stars.

'During the day, we have an excellent view of the school grounds, along with the lake, Forbidden Forest, Quidditch pitch, Herbology gardens, and the surrounding mountains,' Victoire told them as they looked around.

The room was furnished with beautiful bookshelves, tables and chairs. By the door leading up to the dormitories stood a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw made of white marble.

'Since it's your first night I'm afraid I've been instructed to make sure you go to bed immediately,' Victoire told us regretfully, though nobody seemed to mind as they were all exhausted after the journey.

Rose and Lauren made their way up to their dormitory and noticed that their luggage had been brought up. They got ready for bed quickly and soon everybody was soundlessly sleeping.

Rose fell asleep to the sound of the wind whistling around the windows of the tower and thoughts of her years to come in Hogwarts.


	2. The First Day

**Chapter Two: The First Day**

4 September 2017

Albus was awoken the next Monday morning by icy cold water hitting his face. Gasping, he bolted upright and looked around feeling startled.

'Morning Al,' grinned his older brother.

'Come on James, let's go before someone catches us,' said one of his friends who was standing at the door, grinning at James.

James laughed at Albus' expression before racing off after his friend who had just left the first year boys dormitory. Albus glared after his brother and got up. He shivered in his soaking pyjamas and looked around quickly for his robes.

He dressed quickly and grabbed a towel, trying to towel dry his hair. He sighed and gave up after a few minutes and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As he entered he saw Rose already sitting at the Ravenclaw table, laughing and chatting with some girls in her house. Albus felt his stomach twist as he sat down and tried not to think about his cousin.

He kept his eyes down as he ate his breakfast quickly – he didn't want to be there for any longer than he needed to. It was his first day and he was already feeling left out. He felt abandoned by Rose, and even though he knew it wasn't her fault she was sorted into Ravenclaw, he couldn't help but blame her slightly. The fact that she didn't even appear to miss him just made it worse.

Just as Albus was shoving some toast into his mouth, Scorpius walked into the Great Hall, laughing and looking full of himself as usual. Albus sighed, bracing himself for being teased. He was sitting on his own; of course Scorpius would make fun of him. He debated whether or not to just get up and leave when someone sat down in front of him. Looking up, Albus saw it was Megan, the girl who had waved at Rose last night at the feast.

'Hey, I'm Megan,' she told him.

'Albus,' Albus told her, feeling slightly confused as to why she was sitting with him. 'You know, I don't think you're allowed sit at another house's table.'

Megan laughed and shrugged. 'I don't care what people think.'

'Not even professors?' Albus asked, looking around to see if any of the teachers minded Megan sitting with him, but it seemed that either they hadn't noticed or were too lazy to walk down from the teacher's table.

'Especially them,' she told him, grinning.

Albus smiled slightly and wondered again why she was sitting with him.

'What's wrong?' she asked, frowning slightly.

'Oh, uhm, it's nothing,' Albus said as he resumed eating.

She smiled at him. 'Okay then.'

'Why are you sitting with me?' he asked after a moment of silence, getting straight to the point.

'I knew you'd ask me sooner or later,' she said sighing slightly, looking over at the Slytherin girls who had suddenly burst out laughing.

Albus waited a few minutes before she looked back at him and rolled her eyes.

'I grew up with four brothers and all boy cousins. I'm used to hanging around guys. I'm not really used to being around so many girls and all the girl talk. There's only so much I can handle, I found it easier to be around guys,' she explained.

Albus nodded in understanding and shoved more food in his mouth.

'You don't mind, do you?' Megan asked after a moment. He looked up and saw she was looking worriedly at him.

'Not at all,' he reassured her, smiling.

She grinned back. 'So do you always eat this much?'

'Pretty much,' he answered after swallowing.

'Well you're not the only one. Apparently I eat way more than a person would consider average, especially for a girl,' she told him, laughing. 'But I'd hurry up if I were you, class start in a few minutes.'

Albus looked around and noticed they were nearly the only ones left. He glanced over at the Ravenclaw table and saw that Rose was still laughing and eating with the other girls. Sighing, he looked away and quickly shoved more toast in his mouth and got up.

'Do you know where we're going?' Albus asked before pausing. 'Do Gryffindor and Slytherin even have the same class this morning?'

Megan laughed. 'Yep. Timetables were handed out this morning. I stole a first year Gryffindor's timetable for you.'

She handed it to him as they walked out of the Great Hall. Albus took it and smiled, thinking of how she really did suit being in Slytherin. Staring at the timetable, Albus had mixed feelings. Gryffindor's and Slytherin's had the majority of classes together which was good in the sense that Megan would be in his classes, but it meant that Scorpius would as well.

'We're here,' Megan's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Albus looked up and noticed they were standing outside a wooden door. He frowned, wondering how they'd gotten there. Looking behind, he didn't recognize the corridor. Megan laughed at his shocked expression before shaking her head and walking into the classroom with Albus walking silently in behind her.

Megan went and sat down beside a confused Lauren who had no idea who Megan was, leaving Albus standing alone, not knowing what to do. Lauren looked behind and waved at Albus with a bright smile. He waved back half heartily as the door opened behind him and Rose walked in, sounding slightly out of breath.

'Hey,' she greeted, trying to catch her breath.

'Hi,' Albus mumbled as she walked by him and sat down.

Rose turned around a moment later and motioned for Albus to sit down next to her. He walked over and sat down, feeling relieved.

'You know you could have waited for me,' she commented as they waited for their professor to show up.

'What?' Albus asked feeling confused.

'In the Great Hall you just rushed off with Megan,' she muttered.

'You were eating with your friends, I didn't want to disturb you,' he said, trying not to feel too bitter. 'Besides I didn't even know we had class together.'

'Yes, I suppose it is unusual for three houses to have the same class together, its usually just two houses,' noted Rose. 'This class was meant to be just Gryffindor and Ravenclaw but Slytherin was added in last minute. Rather strange having just Hufflepuff in one class. Perhaps since they're so –'

However Albus didn't get to hear Rose's theory on why their class was overfilled and Hufflepuff had a tiny class because just then the professor walked in.

'Morning, class,' he said brightly as he walked to the top of the classroom and turned around to face his class. 'My name is Professor Flitwick and I'll be teaching you Charms this term.'

He grinned around at the class, as if Charms was the most exciting subject in the world. There was a whisper and a snigger from somewhere in the back of the room. Albus turned around and wasn't surprised to see Scorpius and some other Slytherin. He wondered what they found so funny.

'What's so funny, Mr.…?'

'Malfoy,' he answered in a rather proud voice.

A look of distaste passed over Professor Flitwick's face but was quickly replaced with a look of indifference.

'Well any more rude or unnecessary comments from you or your friend will result in points taken from your house,' Flitwick informed Scorpius before turning back to the class. 'Now class, we're going to start off with something easy this term. We'll be learning the spell Wingardium Leviosa, and for the next few classes we'll be focusing on the "swish and flick" wrist movement. Watch my demonstration and repeat.'

Flitwick repeatedly swished and flicked his wrists a few times in a way that Albus regarded as completely ordinary.

'Continue to practice amongst yourselves while I go around and help you individually,' Flitwick told the class as he stepped down from the books he was standing on which allowed him to view the whole class.

Feeling bored, Albus imitated the way Flitwick had swished and flicked his wrist.

'You're doing it wrong,' Rose told Albus glaring at him.

Albus sighed, not feeling like arguing. 'Well you do it then.'

She swished and flicked her wrist causing Albus to sigh in irritation.

'I _just _did that.'

Rose glared at him feeling frustrated. 'No you didn't!'

Albus glared back at his cousin as he was forced to repeatedly watch her swishing and flicking her wrist. He spent the entire class having Rose shout at him every three seconds for not doing it right. Albus thought he was doing it fine but Professor Flitwick wasn't impressed when he came over. He told Albus he should practice every night to make sure he got it right. Flitwick then turned to Rose and couldn't stop praising her on her wrist movements.

'That has to be the most annoying class ever,' Albus complained to Rose as they walked around the corridors during their break before their next class.

'Oh I didn't find it annoying at all. In fact I thought it was really quite interesting the way…' Rose began talking but Albus had already lost interest and was letting her voice drift away as he looked around the corridor.

He spotted Megan and Lauren a few feet a way and felt a sense of relieve. He had Potions with the Slytherin's next and he had no idea where that was. He began to walk over to her when he was suddenly hit hard on the arm with one of the many large books Rose was carrying.

'What was that for?' Albus asked, glaring at his cousin.

'You weren't paying attention to what I was saying!' she said, glaring back.

'Of course I was.'

'Yeah? So what was I saying?' she asked, raising her eyebrows.

'You were talking about Professor Flitwick's Charm's class and how – Oh, look, isn't that your classroom?' Albus asked, trying to distract her by pointing to a random door in the corridor.

'No,' she said narrowing her eyes. 'It's not.'

Fortunately Albus was saved from Rose's temper as Lauren and Megan had noticed them and had stopped and waited for them.

'Ready for Potions?' Megan asked Albus.

Albus nodded as Lauren dragged Rose off to whatever class the Ravenclaw's had.

'Potion's is in the dungeons,' Megan told Albus as they walked down the steps and towards the dungeons.

'Welcome, welcome,' said the professor as they walked into the classroom. 'I'm Professor Slughorn and I'll be your potions professor this year.'

He looked around the room, smiling at everyone. His gazed stopped at Albus and he seemed to examine him for a moment before talking once more.

'Strange man,' murmured Megan to Albus.

Albus nodded in agreement.

'For this term, I have decided to partner you all up. Each week you will be assigned a potion that we will learn about during the week and then you will make it during double Potion's on Friday,' Slughorn told the class, smiling around at them again as if this was the most brilliant idea ever.

He took out a piece of parchment and began calling off partners.

'Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy,' he read out.

Albus' heart sank. He looked over at Scorpius and noticed he didn't look thrilled either.

'Over there,' Slughorn told them, pointing to an empty cauldron.

Albus walked over slowly and sat on the stool, thinking of anything that could be worse. Scorpius grabbed the other stool and pulled it as far away from Albus as he could.

'Now, I hate to leave you on your first day,' Slughorn said as he finished calling off the names. 'But I have to, err, go run an errand, so you and your partner can just talk and get to know each other while I'm gone. I hopefully won't be too long.'

'Wait till my father hears about this,' muttered Scorpius as Slughorn raced out of the room.

'Excuse me?' Albus asked him politely.

'He's going to have a fit knowing I'm paired up with a Potter,' Scorpius told him, saying his last name as if it was a curse word.

Albus almost laughed. 'It's _one_ class. Get over it.'

Scorpius glared at him but didn't say anything.

'What's he going to?' Albus continued. 'Write to the school? Ask them to change your partner?'

Albus had asked all this in a mocking tone but Scorpius looked at him seriously before looking away, causing Albus to burst out laughing.

'Well I doubt they're going to change your partner.'

'We'll see,' was all Malfoy said.

Albus rolled his eyes before looking over to Megan who was sitting next to another Slytherin girl. As they were right in front of Albus and Scorpius, they could hear their whole conversation.

'Why have you been talking to a Ravenclaw?' the girl asked Megan.

'You mean Rose?'

'If that's the Weasley, then yes,' the girl said, looking slightly disgusted.

'Because she's nice,' Megan told her while glaring back at the girl. 'And she doesn't judge people.'

Albus frowned down at the desk in front of him. He thought Megan might just be his friend, but of course she wanted to be friends with Rose as well. Not that Albus had a problem with that, it was just that Rose was so good at making friends and always seemed to steal Albus' friends. She didn't mean to, it wasn't her fault that she was so good at making friends.

'Jealous of your cousin?' Scorpius asked who had also been listening to the conversation.

'No,' Albus told him, turning around to glare at him.

'You two won't be friends for long here,' Scorpius stated.

'What?' Albus asked feeling startled. He hadn't expected Scorpius to say that.

'It's obvious. You two were already fighting this morning,' he said smirking.

Albus glared back at him while secretly hoping he wasn't right. It was true that she seemed to be pulling herself away from him, but still…

'She's my cousin. Of course we'll stay friends.'

Scorpius snorted. 'Yeah, she's your cousin and she's practically your best friend. That's pathetic. Don't you have any other friends?'

Scorpius didn't even bother waiting for a reply and turned to stare at somebody at another table, leaving Albus alone with his thoughts. It was true what he had said, Rose _was _his best friend. He had other friends too but most of them were his cousins. He sighed, suddenly feeling depressed. It was only his first day and he already didn't like Hogwarts.

Scorpius didn't speak for the rest of the class, which Albus was thankful for. Once Slughorn returned and told them they could leave, Scorpius raced out of the room.

The day passed slowly for Albus who generally had no one to sit beside in class unless Megan was feeling sorry for him. He felt bitter towards Rose. Why did she have to be in Ravenclaw?

Finally the day was over and he walked slowly back to the common room, feeling depressed all over again as he saw the groups of friends huddled together as he walked in. Not feeling like sitting in a corner by himself, he decided to head down to the Great Hall early.

'Potter!' shouted a guy from his year as he walked into the hall. 'Come over here.'

He looked over and saw three guys smiling at him and motioning him to come over. Wondering what they wanted, Albus cautiously went over and sat down.

'So, Potter, what's your first name?' asked the boy.

'Albus.'

'You were named after Albus Dumbledore, right?'

He wondered how they knew that but didn't bother asking and simply nodded his head.

'Awesome,' the boy said, smiling at him. 'Anyway I'm Ethan. That's Jason and David.'

'Well don't just sit there, dig in,' Jason said, pointing to the food. David who had his mouth full nodded his head in agreement.

Albus smiled slightly and helped himself to some food while still wondering why they'd called him over.

'So, James is your brother?' asked David once he'd swallowed.

'Yeah,' Albus answered causing them to look impressed.

'His pranks last year were genius. My brother is in his year,' David told Albus.

'So listen,' Ethan said, ignoring David. 'This Halloween we're going to bring a troll into the castle.'

Albus looked around at them and they grinned back at him as if it was the most brilliant idea for a prank.

'Why?' he asked when he realised they were waiting for him to say something.

'It'll be awesome,' David told him, not really answering the question.

'Plus, when Harry Potter had his first Halloween here, a troll was brought into the castle. But I guess you already know that as he's your father,' Ethan put in.

His father _had_ told Albus about it. He'd also mentioned how his aunt, Hermione had almost been killed by it.

'So you want to help? Be part of the prank?' Jason asked.

Albus thought about it. On one hand, it was a pretty stupid idea that could not only cause a lot of trouble but somebody could get hurt. On the other hand, this could be his only chance to fit in.

'Sure.'

They grinned back at him.

'Great. So we'll fill you in on everything tonight in the dormitory. We don't want to say anything here in case somebody's listening,' Jason said standing up and looking around. Albus rolled his eyes. He seriously doubted anybody would bother listening in on a few first year's conversation.

'Talk to you later,' Ethan told Albus as they walked out.

The Great Hall started to fill up and Albus slowly continued to eat, wondering if he'd made the right decision. However before he really had time to think about it, Megan sat down in front of him.

'Hey,' she greeted, grinning at him.

'Hi,' Albus said, smiling back. 'You don't want to eat with the other girls?'

'Slytherin girls are bitchy and Ravenclaw girls…' she trailed off, remembering Albus had cousins in Ravenclaw.

'They're what?' Albus asked feeling interested.

'Boring I guess,' Megan said, blushing slightly before saying quickly, 'Not all the time of course, but just after a day of classes…'

'Won't stop talking about homework and how amazing classes are?' Albus guessed, thinking about Rose.

Megan laughed. 'Pretty much. Though as I was leaving they started talking about boys which might possibly be worse.'

She paused before looking slyly at Albus. 'In fact, they were talking about you.'

'What?' Albus asked, looking startled.

'Mhmm,' was all Megan said as she started eating.

'What were they saying?'

'Sorry can't say, it's the girl code,' Megan told him, smiling evilly causing her green eyes to twinkle.

'You're evil.'

'So I've been told,' she said as she shoved an enormous about of meat into her mouth.

They continued chatting for most of the feast until some Slytherin girls came over, telling Megan they had to go back to the common room for a meeting. As Megan said goodbye to Albus, the girls gave him dirty looks.

When he walked into the common room Jason, Ethan, and David dragged him up to the boy's dormitory so they could talk in private about their brilliant plan. As they went though the details, Albus began to realise the actual possibility of the plan working was very slim which made him feel a lot better.

Once they had finished, Albus get ready for bed before deciding to write a letter home. He grabbed some parchment and a quill and ink and went over to the window for better light. He unscrewed the ink cap and dipped his quill into the ink and began writing.

_Mum and dad,_

_Hogwarts is an amazing place. The enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall is even better in person. I was sorted into Gryffindor, which I'm really happy about. The classes here are boring so far. I can't wait to go to my first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Scorpius Malfoy is my Potion's partner, which is possibly the most annoying thing ever. _

_Anyway it's kind of late so I think I'll head to bed in a minute. I'll write again soon. Tell Lily I say hi. You know, I actually miss her. Never thought I'd say that. Don't tell her I said that though. Anyway, I hope you're all well._

_Albus_

Albus finished writing the letter and left it on his locker to let dry. He'd go to the owlery tomorrow and send it. He yawned as he got into bed and closed his eyes. So far Hogwarts hadn't met his expectations. As he tossed and turned all night, he hoped tomorrow would be somehow better.


	3. Little Brother

**Chapter Three: Little Brother**

5 September – 8 September 2017

'James, get up!' someone whispered into James' ear. He opened his eyes groggily and stared into the face of his excited friend. It was still dark out but he could make out it was his friend, Jack.

'What do you want?' James grumbled, closing his eyes again. He hated people waking him up.

'We're going to prank the girls,' Jack said in an excited voice before pulling James out of the bed, causing him to fall onto the ground.

James glared up at his friend before sighing and getting up.

'What's the plan then?' he asked as he followed Jack out of the dormitory. James was usually the one who came up with the plans and was interested to see what Jack had come up with.

'Well Ryan actually came up with it,' Jack admitted as they walked towards the girl's bathrooms. James sighed to himself. Ryan wasn't the most imaginative person alive. His ideas were generally terrible.

'And?'

'I'll let him tell you,' said Jack as they walked into the girl's bathrooms.

Ryan was waiting inside and grinned at them as they walked in.

'So what is it?' James asked tiredly.

'Regurgitating toilet,' Ryan said proudly.

James stared back at him as Ryan and Jack looked excitedly at him.

'_Regurgitating?_'

Ryan grinned. 'When they flush, instead of going down it'll go up.'

James wrinkled his nose in disgust. 'That's pretty repulsive.'

'That's a big word for you, James,' Jack teased.

James punched his arm before turning back to Ryan who was looking excited.

'So should we do it?' he asked, waiting for James' approval.

James shrugged. 'Since I'm up.'

Ryan grinned and proceeded to teach James and Jack how to enchant the toilet to throw up instead of flush. It was a pretty difficult spell for twelve year olds and James doubted if it would work at all.

'Pretty good prank, huh?' asked Ryan as they walked back to bed.

James shrugged; not really feeling like telling him he doubted it would work. Luckily he didn't ask again and James went back to bed, falling asleep instantly. He woke up the next morning strangely early. Early for James anyway. He usually didn't get up until breakfast was almost over, but today he had awoken at the same time as everyone else.

Yawning, he headed towards the bathrooms and as he got there he spotted Amber Foster walking towards the girl's bathrooms.

'Hey, Foster!' he called over to her without thinking about it.

'What do you want, Potter?' she asked, turning around and sighing.

'Come here for a second,' he motioned her to come over.

She looked like she was going to refuse but then just rolled her eyes and came towards him and glared up at him. She was short for age, which was one of the many things James teased her about.

'Don't use the bathrooms,' he warned her.

'What?' she asked clearly confused.

'Just don't use them. Use the ones on another floor.'

'And why would I do that?' she asked, narrowing her eyes as if James was up to something.

He rolled his eyes in return. 'Just… Just trust me.'

'Like I'd ever do that.'

Amber turned away but instead of walking towards the bathrooms again, she walked back to the girl's dormitory. James grinned and continued into the boy's bathroom.

'What was that for?' Jack asked as he followed James in.

'What?' James asked, faking confusion, as he began to brush his teeth.

'You know what I'm talking about,' Jack said in an annoyed tone. 'Telling Foster about the prank.'

He finished brushing his teeth and looked over at Jack.

'I didn't do anything.'

He walked out of the bathroom with Jack following straight after him.

'You tell her about every single prank we do to the girls,' Jack complained. 'I know it's your first crush and everything but you need to get over it.'

James blushed and stopped for a moment before turning around.

'I don't have a crush,' he told Jack slowly.

'James –'

'Just leave it, okay?' James turned and walked away, hearing Jack sigh as he entered into their dormitory.

He changed into his robes and tried to keep his thoughts away from Amber. He wished everyone would leave him alone about her. Of course he didn't have a crush on her. He frowned to himself. Did he? He shook his head and tried to forget about her. It didn't matter.

James decided some breakfast would make him feel better and as he walked out of the boy's dormitory he heard ear piercing screams coming from the girls bathroom. James smiled realising Ryan's plan had actually worked for once. As he walked towards the Great Hall he got multiple high fives from passing guys in his year.

He arrived just as owls flooded the hall indicating that post was here. As he sat down the family owl dropped a tied piece of parchment on his lap, and a second later another owl dropped the Daily Prophet. James grabbed the parchment and untied it, knowing it was probably from his parents.

_James,_

_I hope you're doing well and not getting into too much trouble. Lily misses you and your brother a lot, and told me to say hi. I hope you're looking after Albus, you know how shy he can be at times. Don't let anyone bully him, please. Your father told me to wait until you or Albus wrote to us before I sent either of you a letter, but I just wanted to make sure that Al was doing okay and had settled in. I hope you had a great first day, and don't forget to write to us soon._

_Lots of love,_

_Mum_

James rolled his eyes as he read the letter. It was just like his mother to worry about Albus all the time. James looked down the table and saw that his brother was sitting with some other guy from his year. Sighing, James got up and went to sit opposite him.

'Hey, Al,' James said in what he hoped was a cheerful voice.

However it did the opposite of what James had hoped it would do and made Albus look terrified. He widened his eyes at his brother's strange behavior. James dropped the fake smile and Albus looked more relaxed.

'Hey James,' the boy Albus had been talking to said. He grinned at James.

'Uh, hi?' James asked looking at him in confusion.

'I'm Ethan,' he told James, as if that explained everything.

James looked at him for a moment as if wondering why Ethan was talking to him or why he was even still there.

'Okay then. Well can you, like… leave? I need to talk to my brother,' James asked, wondering how to be polite.

'Sure,' Ethan replied. He grinned as if he'd been asked to be James' best friend and raced to get up.

'He's weird,' James told Albus as he watched Ethan stumble down the Great Hall in his rush to leave.

Albus shrugged his shoulders.

'Yeah, so listen,' James said, getting back on track. 'Mum wrote to me and asked me to make sure you're okay. She's worried about you or something. You know how she can get.'

James stared at his brother and when he didn't say anything continued, 'So… you're okay, right?'

'Yeah,' was all Albus said.

'Great. Well that's my job done,' James said smiling and hopping up.

He strolled back down to where he had been sitting originally and began eating while reading an article on himself and his brother, which amused him.

'Why'd you do that?' a voice suddenly asked.

James looked up and realised Amber had sat down opposite him. He wondered how long she'd been sitting there for.

'Do what?' James asked as he turned his attention back to his newspaper.

'Tell me about the prank,' she said while staring at James, as if trying to figure something out.

James glanced at her before folding up the newspaper and shrugging.

'You have to have a reason,' she said frowning at James as he stood up.

Trying to avoid looking at her, he looked around the hall. His gaze suddenly noticed Scorpius and some other Slytherin cornering Albus near the front of the hall.

'Excuse me…' muttered James as he walked calmly towards them while thinking of multiple ways to kill Scorpius.

'You think you're so amazing, don't you? Just because you're a Potter,' sneered Scorpius.

'Just go away,' Albus said, glaring at them.

'Or what?' said the other guy, walking a few steps forward, causing Albus to walk backwards into the wall.

'Back off.'

Scorpius jumped. He turned around, obviously not realising anyone was behind him.

'Or what? You'll hit me?' sniggered Scorpius.

'Yeah, I will,' James said, taking a step towards the younger boy. He towered over Scorpius as he was tall for his age and was glad to see Scorpius had enough common sense to look scared.

'What's going on here?' came a voice from behind them.

'Potter and his brother were threatening us, sir,' said Scorpius' friend.

James looked around and saw Professor Slughorn.

'Now, now. I'm sure that's not what _really _happened,' said Slughorn, smiling at the two boys.

They both stood still, not saying a word.

'Well, if no one's going to say anything, I guess that's it. No matter, no matter. You two run along to class while I talk to Albus and his brother. What's your name, son?' he turned to James.

'James, sir,' James told Slughorn as Scorpius ran off followed closely by his friend.

'Ah, yes. I've heard about you from the other teachers. Shame I haven't gotten to teach you myself,' Slughorn said thoughtfully.

James glanced at Albus who was looking amused.

'Anyway,' continued Slughorn. 'I was just on my way to find you, Albus. I'm having a small get-together this Friday and wanted to invite you. You'll come, won't you?'

'Of course, sir.'

He turned back to James. 'You might as well come too and we can have both the Potter boys!'

He grinned at both of them and turned to leave but then stopped and looked at Albus again.

'Oh, and that cousin of yours, Rose, was it?' he asked, and continued when Albus nodded. 'Yes, yes, you can invite her as well.'

Albus nodded his head again and Slughorn swiftly left the Great Hall. James suddenly grinned as he realised what he'd been invited to – the Slug Club. His father had told him all about it after James had found an old picture of Harry in Hogwarts at some party.

'Thanks,' Albus suddenly said. 'For, you know, sticking up for me.'

James shrugged. He wasn't used to expressing his feelings, especially not with his little brother.

'No problem,' he settled for.

He ruffled Albus' hair and smiled as he walked out of the Great Hall and towards his first class.

'James!'

He paused and looked around to see Amber running after him. He waited for her to catch up with him before he started walking again with her alongside him. He was already late because of his chat with Slughorn.

'That was really sweet of you,' she said. When he looked at her confused, she continued, 'Sticking up for your brother like that.'

'Oh. Yeah, that was no problem.'

'No, it was really nice of you,' she insisted.

James looked at her strangely. 'I only told them to back off. It's not a big deal.'

They had gotten to the classroom door and he turned around to face her fully.

'It was a side of you that you don't really show,' she told him. 'I like that side of you a lot more.'

She smiled at him slightly before walking into the classroom. James looked after her, feeling even more confused. He shook his head and wondered why she was acting so weird about the whole thing. He went in and sat down next to Jack.

'So, you and Amber?' he asked raising his eyebrows.

'We were just talking.'

'Right,' he said, clearly not believing James.

The rest of the week flew by and before long it was Friday evening and James was on his way to Slughorn's dinner party. James knocked on the door and was greeted by a smiling Slughorn who quickly ushered him inside.

'Now, you can sit beside Miss Wood,' Slughorn told James as he pointed to one of Amber's friends.

Looking around, James noticed Amber was also at the party. She was sitting next to Rose and as James looked at them, they burst out laughing. He blushed and wondered which childhood story Rose had told her.

Ignoring them, James went and sat beside the girl Slughorn had pointed to. She had light brown hair, brown eyes, and wouldn't stop staring at James.

'Miss Wood,' he greeted her in a sarcastic formality causing her to laugh a little too hard.

'It's Sophie,' she said smiling widely.

'I'm James.'

'I know,' she told him before giggling.

'Right…' he said slowly before turning to look at Slughorn. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her still staring at him in a slightly creepy way.

Albus suddenly came in and was greeted loudly by Slughorn who pointed to the seat beside James. As soon as his brother sat down, Slughorn began introducing everybody and telling the other guests about their family history. He got to James and Albus and smiled proudly at them.

'James and Albus Potter,' Slughorn announced loudly. 'I'm sure they'll go far. Very far. Of course their father needs no explaining. Harry Potter, the boy who lived! Fantastic boy! You know, I taught him myself.'

Slughorn went on to tell his guests of every moment he had with Harry and how extremely talented he was. Slughorn didn't stop talking for thirty minutes about James and Albus' father, though nobody seemed to grow bored. They all look fascinated and were slightly disappointed when the dinner arrived causing Slughorn to stop talking.

'So James,' began Sophie. 'How old are you?'

'I'm twelve,' James answered, while thinking about how he could leave the dreadful party early.

'I'm thirteen,' she told James although he hadn't asked. Perhaps he could pretend to feel sick.

'I'm in third year,' Sophie continued on. 'But myself and Amber are really good friends because we grew up together. So it doesn't matter that there's a year between us. We're both muggle-born and were raised on the same street. Isn't that so weird the way two muggle-born children with magical gifts lived on the same street? I find it so weird. Amber and I are always laughing about it. Though more muggle born's are developing magical powers lately. I wonder why that is…'

James couldn't understand why she was talking so much. It wasn't even interesting. Would she ever take a break? Didn't she need to breath?

'What about you?' she asked suddenly, staring at James intensely.

James looked at her blankly.

'Do you hang out with younger years?' she asked the question again. 'Or older?'

James frowned at her. What a strange question. Why did it matter if he did?

'Yeah, my cousin's are all in different years and I hang out with them a lot,' he told her.

She nodded enthusiastically while she cut a large slice of meat and put it in her mouth. Noticing she couldn't talk while chewing, James quickly turned to Albus before she swallowed and began talking again.

'So, Al,' he began before stopping and realising he had no idea what to say.

Albus, like James, looked unbelievably bored. He was sitting besides Slughorn, who had probably made Albus tell him every detail about his childhood.

'Are you liking Hogwarts?' James finished off lamely.

'Uh, I guess…' Albus said, looking at James strangely.

'Great.' James forced a smile on his face while he tried to think of something else to talk about.

'Aw! That's so cute the way you talk to your brother and actually care about him!' squealed Sophie from beside James.

He sighed and turned back around to her.

'Yep,' he forced out.

'You know what, I'm not feeling too well. I think I'm going to go back to my dormitory,' Albus told Slughorn.

James spun around in his seat.

'Oh, no. My poor brother,' James said, faking concern. 'I better go with him to make sure he's okay.'

'Aw! You're such a nice big brother!' squealed Sophie again.

'I had a really nice time,' James lied to Slughorn while ignoring Sophie.

'I'm glad you did, my boy,' Slughorn said, grinning. 'Don't forget, same time next month.'

James forced himself to smile back while silently dying inside. He dragged Albus out the door as fast as he could.

'You're welcome,' Albus said as soon as they were in the corridor.

'For what?'

'I faked feeling sick. You looked like you were dying,' he explained.

'Oh yeah? And it had nothing to do with the fact you were sitting beside Slughorn?'

Albus rolled his eyes. 'I could have survived for a little longer. You on the other hand…'

'Well, thanks,' James said after a moment of walking in silence.

They walked back to the common room where Albus said he was tired and headed off to bed. James settled down in one of the armchairs and began writing home to his parents, telling them all about the Slug Club and how himself and Albus had actually sort of bonded today. He smiled as he thought of his mum's reaction.

As he began writing, he started to think about how having his little brother here with him wasn't such a bad thing after all.


	4. An Unexpected Arrival

**Chapter Four: An Unexpected Arrival**

29 September 2017

After her first week at Hogwarts, Rose settled into her new life easily. She didn't find her classes difficult and made many new friends, including Lauren and Megan who had quickly become her two best friends. The only problem was that Albus and her had become more distant. As the days passed by, Rose could feel herself and her cousin growing apart. She tried to make time for him, but she had so much going on, and whenever he did have time he was always hanging around with Ethan, David, and Jason; the three troublemakers of Gryffindor. Rose disapproved of Albus' friendship with them but kept her mouth shut, knowing how hard it was for Albus to make friends.

'Victoire is being a pain in the ass,' Dominique suddenly said to Rose one night when they were in their common room.

'Why?' Rose asked looking over to her cousin.

Dominique rolled her eyes. 'Because she misses Teddy. I mean how pathetic is that. He's only one guy. Losing your mind over a guy isn't healthy.'

Rose smirked at her cousin. 'So who is he?'

'Who's who?' Dominique asked in confusion.

'The guy you like.'

Dominique blushed and looked away. 'I don't like anyone.'

'Yeah, right,' Rose said grinning.

'Anyway we're not talking about me. We're talking about Teddy. Did you know that Molly won't stop writing him letters?'

Molly was their cousin and always stuck by the rules. She'd never been particularly close to Teddy, and Rose wondered why she'd be writing so much to him.

'Why?' Rose asked, frowning.

'Come on, Rosie,' Dominique said, rolling her eyes. 'She obviously likes him.'

'Really? He doesn't really seem like her type…'

Dominique shrugged. 'I tried to look at the letter she was writing the other day and she went crazy at me. She thought I'd read it and made me promise not to say anything to Victoire.'

Rose was about to reply but was interrupted by a loud voice.

'Rosie, posie!'

Rose rolled her eyes and knew who it was before she even turned around.

'Yes, James?'

'You can't be in here!' and enraged seventh year said from the corner of the common room.

'Why not?' James asked, grinning.

'Because you're a Gryffindor!'

'But I answered the riddle, shouldn't I be allowed in?' James asked as he sat down in a chair opposite Rose.

'No! Now get out!' the seventh year said, looking more and more annoyed.

James stretched. 'Nah, I kind of like here.'

'What do you want, James?' Rose asked, laughing slightly.

'I've come to escort you to a lovely Slug Club dinner,' he told her as if this was the most exciting thing in the world.

Rose raised her eyebrows. 'It hasn't even been a month though.'

James looked disgusted. 'I know, but apparently it's an emergency one because we have a new member. I don't see why the member couldn't wait until next month.'

'Well when does it start?'

'About an hour ago,' James told her as he made himself at home by placing his feet on the coffee table in front of him.

'James!' Rose stood up, feeling alarmed.

James stared at her, wondering why she was getting so panicked. He stood up slowly.

'Oh, I forgot. You need to be on time for everything. It's fine, I told him we'd be late anyway,' James told her as they walked out of the common room.

'Don't come back!' shouted the seventh year.

James rolled his eyes. 'I think I'll return at least once a week just to annoy that stuck up snob.'

'You don't even know her,' Rose pointed out.

'I know she's someone who would never breaks the rules and people like that deserve to be annoyed.'

'I don't break the rules.'

James grinned at her. 'Don't worry, I'll fix that.'

'Did you know our parents were in the Slug Club?' Rose asked, changing the subject. 'Well yours were. My mum was but my dad wasn't. He didn't seem impressed when I wrote to him about it.'

James laughed. 'I'm aware. Slughorn and Uncle Ron never really got along, mostly due to the fact that Slughorn could never remember his name.'

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Rose asked, 'So what do you want?'

James smiled at her sweetly. 'What do you mean?'

Rose raised her eyebrow at him and his smile dropped and he sighed.

'Okay, you caught me. I've got a plan and I need your help.'

Rose stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

'You see, I really hate these stupid parties or dinners or whatever you want to call them –'

'You've only been to one,' Rose interrupted him.

James glared at his cousin before continuing, 'Mostly due to that annoying girl who never stops talking. What's her name? Sally? Susan? Oh, it doesn't matter –'

'Sophie,' Rose interrupted him again.

'Whatever. Anyway, if it gets too much for me, I'll lightly tap you on the leg and you'll pretend to feel sick. And me, being the concerned cousin I am, will bring you back to your common room.'

'Hmm, and what's in it for me?' Rose asked slyly.

'The feeling of knowing you saved me from being tortured.'

Rose stared at him and he sighed. 'Fine, what do you want?'

She shrugged as they got to the door causing James to roll his eyes.

'If you don't even know what you want why would you even bring it up?' James asked. 'But do it for me and the next time you want something or you need help or whatever, I'll give it to you.'

'Fine,' Rose said as she knocked on the door.

A grinning Slughorn greeted them.

'I'm so happy to see you made it!' he told them as he welcomed them inside.

'Sorry we're so late, I had to help Rose with a difficult essay,' James told him, smiling.

Rose glared at James behind Slughorn's back.

'Aw!' came the familiar voice. 'What a kind cousin!'

'He is indeed,' Slughorn said smiling at James. 'Now, you can go sit next to Sophie again, and Rose can sit next to our newest guest.'

James looked like he'd just been ordered the death sentence but planted a fake smile on his face and walked towards Sophie. Rose looked over to where the newest member was and felt her heart sink. Scorpius Malfoy was grinning back at her. What was he doing here?

Rose sat down next to him and scooted her chair slightly away from him, trying not to look at him.

'As you can all see, we have a new member with us: Scorpius Malfoy,' Slughorn began as he sat down.

Rose blushed as she looked around the empty table and realised they had waited for her and James to arrive before they ate.

'Scorpius is rather gifted in potions,' Slughorn said as Albus rolled his eyes. 'In fact, just the other day he and Albus brewed a perfect boil cure potion. Of course I wouldn't expect anything less from a Potter. Did you know that Harry was also extraordinary gifted at potions? This one time a friend of his, oh, what was his name? Rupert?'

Rose and James smirked at each other as Slughorn described a story they'd heard countless times. It was the story of how Rose's father had almost died and her uncle had saved him. Though Slughorn, being Slughorn dramatised the whole thing. The dinner arrived half way through him telling another story about the great Harry Potter, and much to everyone's dismay, had to be put off until after dinner.

'So, Rose,' began Amber from beside her. 'What's James like at home? I mean, does he act the same way, or what?'

Rose looked at her strangely while she sipped her water. She put her glass down and began talking, 'Uhm, well yeah I guess. I mean, he's more full of himself here but –'

She was cut off by Sophie's unnaturally shrill laughter coming from across the table. She had one hand on James' arm while she continued to laugh. Rose looked at James and laughed at his terrified expression

Rose turned back to Amber and was surprised to see her looking at Sophie with narrowed eyes. However when she saw Rose staring at her, she stopped glaring and forced a smile on her face.

'But?' she prompted.

'But…?' Rose asked, confused for a moment but then realised what she was talking about. 'Oh. Yeah, but he can be really nice sometimes. And he doesn't let anyone bully me or Al.'

Amber smiled and looked back over at James who looked horrified at whatever Sophie had just said. Rose turned around and saw Scorpius sitting awkwardly, not talking to anyone. She'd almost forgotten he was there. He looked at her and before she can look away, he had begun speaking.

'So why are you here?' he asked her.

'What do you mean?'

'Well I was invited because I'm brilliant at potions. Why were you invited?' he asked, smirking at her. She glared at him.

'I'm pretty sure it was Al who made that potion, not you,' she said, trying to throw him off subject. Why _was _she here? Was it because she was smart? She couldn't say that, it would sound boastful. Or was it because of her family?

'Stop trying to change the subject,' Scorpius told her, looking as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself. 'And I made it. Potter couldn't even figure out what page the potion was on.'

Rose rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, I'm sure. And how did Slughorn even notice one student out of the whole class? Or did you father write in and arrange for you to join the Slug Club because "you're brilliant at potions"?'

She'd asked this sarcastically but when Scorpius remained silent she burst out laughing.

'Oh my God, that _is _why you were invited,' Rose laughed.

He glared at her. 'Well you still haven't answered my question.'

She stopped laughing and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She glanced over at him and a smug look lit up his face. She glared at him when suddenly something hit her very hard on the leg.

'Ow!' she shouted before she could stop herself.

She looked over at James and saw him glaring at her.

'Are you alright, my dear?' Slughorn asked, looking concerned.

'Oh, uhm…' she began, trying to think of an excuse. 'My stomach is really sore. I don't feel too good, I think I'll go back to my common room.'

'Oh, yes, you should do that. Don't want a bright student like you unwell,' Slughorn said, still looking concerned.

Rose stood up as Slughorn began talking again. 'There must be something going around. That's both you and your cousin that have been ill.'

'Oh, poor Rosie,' James said in a fake caring voice. 'I'd better make sure she gets back to her common room alright.'

Slughorn smiled at him. 'What a kind boy you are.'

'Yes, isn't he? He's so nice the way he cares about his little cousin! It's so sweet of him.' Sophie said as James got up and raced over to Rose and dragged her out of the room.

'Merlin's beard,' he mumbled as they walked back to the Ravenclaw common room.

'Had fun, did you?' Rose asked, laughing.

He shuddered. 'She asked me out.'

Rose burst out laughing. 'What did you say?'

'I said I'd think about it. I'm such an idiot.'

Rose laughed harder at this. 'Why didn't you just tell her no?'

James covered his face with his hands. 'I panicked. I've never been asked out before, I didn't know what to say!'

They arrived at the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room and James easily answered the riddle.

'You know, you're pretty clever,' Rose said as they walked in.

'You sound surprised,' said James, laughing.

Rose shrugged. 'You don't exactly show your intelligence.'

James stared at her. 'Did you just insult me?'

'Get out!' a voice suddenly interrupted them. The seventh year came towards James holding a hairbrush up as if she were about to hit him with it.

James held his hands up while smirking. He walked backward out of the doorway. 'All right. I was just about to leave. You need to loosen up.'

He turned and walked out just as the hairbrush hit him on the back of the head.

'I won't forget that!' he shouted as he walked down the stairs.

The seventh year turned to Rose and glared at her. 'Tell your cousin that if he comes back here one more time I'll go straight to McGonagall.'

'Relax, Maria,' a voice said. Rose turned around and saw a girl about a year or two older than her sitting in an armchair. She had dark auburn hair and brilliant blue eyes.

'He's right, you need to loosen up. Nothing will happen if you don't obey the rules every second of the day,' the girl said, not even looking up from her book.

Maria glared at the girl but didn't say anything and went to sulk in a corner. Rose stared at the girl in fascination and sat down in the chair opposite her.

'I'm Meredith,' the girl introduced, still not looking up.

'Rose.'

The girl glanced up and smiled. 'I know.'

Rose couldn't shake the feeling that Meredith looked familiar. It was something about her piercing blue eyes.

'Do I know you?' Rose finally asked.

Meredith finally put her book down and examined Rose's face, as if trying to decide something.

'No,' she said slowly. 'Though your parents knew my grandfather.'

Rose frowned. That could've been anyone. Meredith smiled at Rose's confusion.

'Will you tell me who your grandfather was?'

Meredith paused again. 'Perhaps one day.'

Rose stared at the girl. She appeared sad and lonely.

'Why's it such a secret?'

She smiled sadly at her. 'You'd understand if you knew who my grandfather was.'

'Rose!' a voice suddenly shouted as someone entered into the common room.

Rose turned around and saw Megan running towards her, her eyes shining brightly. Smiling, Rose wondered what had made her so excited.

'YOU CAN'T JUST COME IN HERE,' Maria's voice suddenly screeched.

Megan, who was clearly wearing her Slytherin robes, stopped and stared at Maria wondering if she was insane. She blinked before turning back to Rose, deciding to ignore Maria.

'Guess what,' Megan said as she sat down, grinning.

Maria let out a frustrated roar before disappearing into her dormitory. The three girls stared after her, wondering if she was all right.

'What?' asked Rose, deciding to ignore Maria as well.

'There's a new student,' Megan told her before turning to Meredith. 'Hi, I'm Megan.'

'Meredith.'

'But it's been almost a month since school's started,' Rose said in confusion.

'I know. She arrived by broom with her mother just a few minutes ago. By the way, her mother has to be the creepiest person ever. Anyway, McGonagall went out and escorted them inside. She talked to them for a moment before the creepy old woman left.'

'What's the girls name?' Meredith asked.

'Violet, I think,' Megan said, as she frowned thoughtfully.

'What happened then?' Rose asked, who was rather excited about this strange new girl.

'McGonagall brought her to her office. I think she's being sorted there. Isn't that so weird? Being sorted with McGonagall just staring at you.' Megan shuddered.

'What does she look like?' Meredith asked with a sort of urgency.

Megan looked at her strangely before answering, 'Long black hair, pale, and dark brown eyes. She'd be sort of pretty if she didn't frown so much. But maybe that's because her mother was being really clingy. I'd be annoyed too if my mum did that.'

'Why was the mum so creepy?' Rose asked.

Megan shuddered. 'It wasn't just one thing. It was the sort of overall way she moved and looked at everything. She just had a creepy feel to her, you know? And it was like she was looking at Hogwarts as if she was deciding which was the best way to rob it. McGonagall didn't seem to like her too much either.'

Megan had paled as she talked and Rose wondered how awful the woman must have been to make Megan scared. As they sat in silence, waiting for Megan to talk again, Lauren came in.

'Did Megan tell you all about that creepy new girl?' Lauren asked, grinning.

'I thought her mother was creepy not her?'

Lauren rolled her eyes. 'They were both creepy. They looked as if they'd never left their house or had any social interaction.'

Megan frowned. 'The mother was still creepier.'

'True,' Lauren agreed. 'Anyway, I waited outside the headmistress office with some other students and guess what house she's been sorted into.'

'Slytherin?' guessed Rose.

'Gryffindor,' Lauren said, grinning and enjoying Megan's stunned expression.

'No way that girl should be in Gryffindor. Especially with a mother like that…' muttered Megan.

Rose thought they were being a little judgmental of the girl without even having talked to her but she decided not to say anything. Megan _did _seem a little freaked out which was unusual for her.

'How do you know she's in Gryffindor?' Rose asked.

'She came down the stairs and just kind of stared at us all in that creepy way before spotting you cousin, Albus. And then it was like she suddenly became a different person,' Lauren began.

'What do you mean?' Rose asked, interrupting.

Lauren frowned. 'Well one minute she was looking bitter and creepy and the next she was looking sweet and innocent. She even started smiling in a shy way. If I hadn't seen her looking so angry beforehand, I would've been happy to make friends with her. Anyway, she went over to Albus and asked him sweetly if he could help her find the Gryffindor common room, as if she already knew he was a Gryffindor.'

Rose felt uneasy. 'And what did Al do?'

'He kind of blinked at her and then smiled and went off with her. Clearly he has a crush.'

Rose felt her stomach twist. She didn't have a good feeling about Violet.


	5. Violet

**Chapter Five: Violet**

30 October 2017 – 31 October 2017

Albus had finally settled into Hogwarts and it was all thanks to one girl – Violet. While Jason, David, and Ethan had been nice to him and had included him, all they were interested in was pranking. Albus doubted they'd even have included him if he hadn't been James' brother or a Potter. Violet however actually listened to him. She was intelligent, sweet, and caring. At least according to Albus. He couldn't understand what Rose's problem was. It annoyed him how the one proper friend he made, Rose hated. It was like she didn't want him to make any friends at all.

Albus thought back to the first day he'd met Violet. He'd been waiting outside McGonagall's office with a group of other students as they waited to see what house Violet had been sorted into. When she'd come back down, much to Albus' surprise, she went straight over to him, looking shy and scared, and asked him to show her the way to the Gryffindor common room. Lauren, one of Rose's friends, had glared at the back of Violet's head and shook her head at Albus. Albus had just frowned back, wondering why he shouldn't be talking to Violet, before giving her a tour of Hogwarts.

As they walked around, Violet had asked Albus all about himself and his family. Albus had never had anyone take much interest in him; they were always more interested in his charming and cheeky brother, or his intelligent cousin. They didn't care much about a shy little boy. Violet had taken a keen interest in him, however, and Albus grew closer to her each day.

He came across her one day in the common room, writing frantically on a piece of parchment.

'Who are you writing to?' Albus asked as he sat down beside her.

She looked up, startled and grabbed her parchment, covering it from Albus' eyes. Her eyes turned dark as she glared at him.

'Were you reading it?' she demanded.

Albus stared back at her in shock. 'Of course not.'

She blinked before her face turned back to it's usual sweet self. She smiled sweetly at him.

'Sorry. It's just very private.'

'I understand. Was it to your mother?' Albus asked. Violet never talked about herself or her family, no matter how many times Albus asked, and he grew more curious as the days went by.

Violet hesitated before nodding. She looked sad and glanced down at the letter she was still clutching.

'She's ill,' she whispered to Albus.

This was the first thing he'd ever heard about Violet's mother and he wished he hadn't. He looked at her sadly, unsure of what to say. He'd never been good at comforting people, especially not girls. James was annoying and cheeky, but their little sister, Lily had always run to him if she was upset. Somehow, he'd always been able to make her feel better. Albus had no experience in consoling people.

Luckily, James walked in before Albus had a chance to say anything. He stared at his brother and Violet for a moment.

'Why the long faces?' he asked.

Violet looked up and stared at James as if deciding something.

'Her mother's ill,' Albus said, not knowing if Violet would be mad at him for telling someone. However Albus needed James' comforting skills.

'Liar,' came a voice from behind them.

Albus looked around and saw Rose. She was staring at Violet with anger in her eyes. Albus glared at his cousin, wondering why she was being so rude.

'I'm not lying!' Violet's eyes had turned dark as she glared at Rose furiously.

'You're not allowed in here,' James said, acting responsible for once.

Rose raised her eyebrows. 'But you're allowed in the Ravenclaw common room? Anyway you were taking too long.'

Albus looked between his cousin and brother. 'Are you two going somewhere?'

James grinned at his brother though it seemed to look false. 'Just decided to have a chat with my favourite cousin. Come on, Rosie.'

James dragged her out of the common room before Albus could even reply. He felt hurt. Even his brother seemed to prefer Rose now. And he couldn't shake the feeling that their little chat involved him.

'They're up to something,' Violet muttered, saying aloud Albus' thoughts.

He nodded silently.

'Let's follow them,' Violet suggested, looking strangely excited.

Albus paused. 'I don't think that's a good idea…'

Violet however wouldn't listen to him, and half dragged him out into the corridor. Rose and James had just reached the end of the corridor and were turning into the next one. Quietly they followed after them. As they reached the end, they heard voices. Violet paused to listen.

'What do you want?' James asked tiredly.

Albus frowned. James didn't sound his normal, perky self.

'You know what,' Rose replied a little angrily. 'It's about Violet.'

Albus glanced at Violet who began to look annoyed.

'What about her?' James sighed.

'She's a bad influence on Albus.'

'Hardly.'

'You must have noticed he's changing,' Rose insisted.

Albus frowned. Was he changing?

'Everyone changes, Rose. And it's not as if she's making him kill people. He's not changing in a bad way,' James told her.

'He only ever hangs around her! It's unhealthy.'

'You're just trying to think of things wrong with her. What's your actual problem with her?' James asked; sounding tired again.

'She's weird… And creepy,' Rose said pathetically.

'Rose –' James began in a parental voice.

'I just get a weird vibe off her!'

James didn't reply.

'You feel it too.' It wasn't a question, Rose was certain.

James paused. 'So? It doesn't matter if she's weird. It's good that Albus' is making a friend. Our parents worried about him before he came here. He never tried to socialize or even seemed to want to make friends when he was younger. And if Violet is who he wants to be friends with, let him be friends with her.'

Albus blushed. Did his parents actually worry about him? True, he'd never really wanted to make friends; he only ever needed Rose as a friend. But was that really a problem?

They heard footsteps, as if someone was walking away.

'James –' Rose called after him.

James sighed again. 'Rose, you can't stay his only friend for the rest of his life. I know you miss him, but he needs to learn how to live without you telling him what to do every second. You're my cousin and I love you, but he's my brother and he'll always come first. So I'm only telling you this once, leave him alone.'

There was silence as James walked away, leaving Rose alone. Albus looked over at Violet and frowned. She appeared to be looking satisfied but when she saw him staring, her face turned into a look of concern. Perhaps he'd imagined her looking satisfied. Why would that have made her happy anyway?

'That was harsh…' Albus muttered.

Violet frowned. 'It was the truth. And she needed to hear it.'

Rose suddenly turned around the corner. She glanced at Albus and Violet before turning back around and walking away. Albus moved to go after her as he spotted tears in her eyes, but Violet grabbed his arm and shook her head.

'You two can't live your lives in each other's pockets. James is right, you need to learn how to survive on your own,' Violet told him. 'Plus she didn't want us to be friends. You want us to be friends, don't you?'

She smiled sweetly at Albus and he smiled back at her slightly. She was right. He needed to learn to live without relying on Rose. Whenever he'd had a problem he'd always gone running to her and she'd fixed it.

'I suppose,' he said slowly.

Violet smiled again in satisfaction. 'Good. Now let's go get some dinner.'

Albus smiled back and followed her down the stairs towards the Great Hall. However as they turned a corner, they bumped into the one person Albus didn't need to see.

'Hello, Potter,' greeted Scorpius in his usual sneering manner.

'What do you want, Malfoy?' sighed Albus.

'I just saw Rose crying as she ran into the girls bathrooms. You two have a fight?' Scorpius asked looking at Albus in fake concern. Albus frowned as he saw that Scorpius was looking at Albus in a slightly angry way. Why would he be angry?

'That's none of your business,' Violet told him.

Scorpius turned to Violet and looked her up and down before turning back to Albus. 'You need to teach your girlfriend to know when she's being spoken to.'

'And you need to learn to shut your mouth,' Violet said looking angrily at Scorpius.

Scorpius turned back to her and smirked. 'I don't think so. You know why? Because I heard a _very _interesting rumour about you.'

He leaned closer to her as he said this, his voice in an almost whisper, and watched in satisfaction as Violet's eyes widened.

He leaned back again and shrugged, his voice turning back to it's normal volume, 'But perhaps I will keep it to myself. That look on your face is too brilliant not to see again.'

And with that, he strolled off, smirking to himself. Albus stared at Violet who was pale and looking sick. He frowned, wondering what that had been about.

'Are you okay?' Albus asked.

Violet looked at him. She'd forgotten he was there. She forced a smile on her face. 'Of course.'

'Are you sure?' Albus asked, frowning. 'What was he talking about?'

They continued to walk towards the Great Hall as Violet bit on her lip.

'Nothing,' she finally said as they entered the hall. 'He must've been lying.'

She said this almost to herself and Albus wondered what she thought he'd found out. They sat down and to Albus' surprise, James who had just entered the hall seconds after them, sat down next to them.

'Hey,' he greeted, grinning. Albus noticed that his cheerful behavior was back but seemed forced, as if he was trying to act like nothing was wrong.

'How was your chat with your favourite cousin?' Albus asked casually as he dug into his food.

Violet stopped eating and stared at James curiously as his eyes darkened and his grin slipped for a second before he plastered a smile back on his face.

'Great. We had a lovely heart to heart,' he told Albus before changing the subject. 'So Violet, tell me about yourself.'

Violet paused, looking slightly panicked. Albus had never right out asked her about herself, he'd usually just thrown in questions in the middle of their conversation which she'd politely ignored.

'What do you want to know?' Violet asked cheerfully, though she too looked like she was putting it on.

'Are you muggle born or wizard born?'

'Wizard born. I'm almost pure blood,' she told him in a slightly bitter voice. Albus wondered why she cared so much about being a pure blood.

'So a muggle is your ancestor?'

'Yes,' she told him tightly.

'Fascinating,' James said, smiling. 'I love muggles. Don't you?'

'James…' Albus said, wondering what his brother was doing.

James turned and smiled at his brother.

'Ah, yes. You love muggles too, don't you Al? They simply intrigue you.'

Violet looked in disgust at Albus before turning her face blank.

'They are intriguing, yes,' Violet said slowly.

'So,' James said, turning back to Violet. 'What about your mother?'

'What about my mother?' Violet asked. She seemed to grow more annoyed with every passing minute.

'What's she like? That was very nice of her to bring you all the way to Hogwarts, wasn't it, Al? She could've just let you come on your own, but no, she came with you.'

Violet frowned at James, wondering what he was getting at. 'That was kind of her, yes.'

'You seem to be just agreeing with everything I'm saying,' pointed out James.

'Is that so?' Violet asked, smirking.

James stared at Violet for a moment before forcing another cheerful smile on his face. 'Why were you late to Hogwarts?'

'My mother was ill,' Violet answered coldly.

'Why couldn't your father take care of her?'

'James!' Albus was growing annoyed at James' rude questions.

'He's not around.'

'Why not?'

'He left when I was young. Now, if that's all,' Violet said coolly as she stood up, leaving her plate almost full. She walked silently out of the hall.

'What's her problem?' James asked as he took a huge bite of a potato.

Albus glared furiously at his brother. 'You! You're acting like Rose. Why can't you just leave Violet alone?'

'She never talks about herself to you, don't you find that weird? And I'm just looking out for you. Rose was being nosy and was jealous.'

'Jealous?' Albus asked in a surprised tone.

James rolled his eyes. 'Come on. You two have been friends your whole lives. Then comes along a girl and you suddenly abandon her.'

'She abandoned me first,' Albus replied in a childish voice.

James shrugged. 'Doesn't matter.'

Albus sighed before remembering Violet and glared at his brother again. 'You were still rude to Violet. Now I've to go apologise to her on behalf of you.'

James snorted. 'Make sure to tell her that I'm in no way sorry.'

Albus clenched his jaw before getting up and leaving the Great Hall. As he left, he glanced over to the Ravenclaw table and saw that Rose was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, wondering if she was still in the bathroom. He finally found Violet in the owlery, sending a letter off. She looked furious but changed her expression to her usual innocent, shy look when she spotted Albus. When Albus apologised for James' behaviour she told him not to worry about it, which confused Albus, as she had seemed so annoyed about it.

The next day, Rose ignored Albus in the little classes that they had together, and Albus wondered if she was taking what James said seriously and leaving him alone. The whole day, Jason talked excitedly to him about their plan to bring the troll into the school. David and Ethan had skipped all their classes in order to take the time to go find the troll in the forest and bring him safely back into the school without being spotted. Albus seriously doubted they'd find a troll but didn't say anything and pretended to be just as excited as Jason was.

Before Albus entered the Great Hall for dinner, Jason dragged him away and towards the dungeons.

'They got the troll,' whispered Jason as they snuck down the steps.

Albus felt his heart speed up as they spotted David and Ethan outside one of the dungeon doors with bruises and blood all over them. They looked at Jason and Albus wearily as they arrived next to them. Neither looked excited.

'Where is it?' Jason asked, grinning.

'In there,' David answered, pointing to the door they were standing outside of, and looking annoyed. 'Nice of you to make us go get it while you and Albus sat safely in class.'

'It almost killed us!' Ethan told them angrily. His left eye was so swollen that Albus couldn't even see most of it.

Jason rolled his eyes. 'Whatever. So when are we going to let it loose?'

Albus stared at him in horror. He'd never mentioned that part of the plan. He'd just said they'd bring it to the girl's bathrooms as a sort of reenactment of Harry Potter's first Halloween in Hogwarts.

'Ethan and I were talking,' David began. 'And we decided we're not going to do that.'

Jason stopped grinning excitedly. 'And who put you two in charge?'

'Well who put you in charge?' Ethan asked angrily.

There was a sudden bang on the dungeon door. It echoed around the corridor causing Ethan and David to look terrified.

'It'll kill us all!' shouted Ethan as he ran off with David following after him.

'They're such babies,' muttered Jason. 'Come on, let's set it free.'

Albus moved forward. 'I don't think we should…'

Jason glared at Albus. 'Not you too. James would have loved to do this prank. I should've asked him.'

'No, he wouldn't have. He's not an idiot.'

However Jason wasn't listening as he was unbolting the door. Albus moved forward to stop him but it was too late. The door flew open and with an angry roar, the troll wacked his club against Jason, causing him to fly backwards and hit the wall. He fell limply to the ground, moaning. Albus flattened himself against the wall quickly as the troll charged past him.

Albus hurried over to Jason and kneeled down beside him. His head was gushing blood and he had stopped moaning. Albus felt for his pulse and was startled when he felt it slowing down. Feeling panicked, he tried to pick Jason up but he was too heavy. Albus grabbed Jason's arms and began pulling him towards the steps. He was sure that dragging him wouldn't make his injuries any better but he had no other choice.

He reached the top of the dungeon steps and looked around helplessly for someone to help him but everyone was already at the Halloween feast. He looked down at the blood that was pouring out of Jason's head and gritting his teeth, half carried and half dragged Jason towards to hospital wing.

Albus heard a shriek as he neared the hospital wing and looking around was thankful to see Madam Pomfrey rushing towards them.

'Good heavens, what happened?' she asked as she helped heave Jason onto a hospital bed.

Albus paused but decided that lying wasn't a good idea as a troll was still rampaging around the castle.

'Some students brought a troll into the castle and it attacked Jason,' Albus said, not giving away who brought it in or that Jason was the one who actually set it free.

Madam Pomfrey stared at Albus in shock as if wondering why a student would even want to bring a troll in.

'I must attend to this young boy, he's severely wounded,' she told Albus as she began to work. 'Go inform the headmistress of the troll.'

Albus nodded mutely, feeling his heart beat fast as he made his way towards the Great Hall. He wasn't looking forward to telling McGonagall of the troll. However luckily for Albus he didn't have to tell her as the school had already been notified of the troll.

Prefects were leading panicked students back to their common rooms. James spotted Albus and pulled him into an empty corridor.

'Did you have something to do with this?' James asked, looking more serious than he ever had. Albus felt slightly scared and decided that he preferred James when he was joking around.

Albus paused and James sighed.

'Al, this is serious. The troll came into the hall and started attacking random people. Some students are seriously injured.'

Albus felt his mouth go dry. 'I didn't bring it in. They just told me about the plan. They locked it in the dungeons but then Jason unlocked the door and set it loose, I tried to stop him but, but –'

Albus was starting to hyperventilate. Was he going to be expelled now? Would they write home to his parents? They'd be so disappointed. James' serious face disappeared and he awkwardly patted Albus' arm.

'It's okay, Al. Just tell McGonagall that. She'll understand,' James said.

'Do I have to tell her?' Albus asked as he struggled to control his breathing.

James looked sympathetically at his brother just as Megan ran around the corner and nearly knocked them over.

'There you are,' she said breathlessly to Albus. 'Did you hear?'

'About the troll in the hall? Yes,' mumbled Albus.

'No, not that. You know the way we all had to return to our common rooms? Well about five minutes after we got back we heard a huge roar and the troll knocked down the whole entrance to our common room! But the next part is really weird. He didn't attack anyone but Scorpius. He ran straight at him and started whacking him with his club. It was awful. There was blood everywhere…' Megan trailed off, her eyes going wide.

'What happened then?' James asked eagerly.

'McGonagall and some other professors came in and managed to finally stop it. I think they had to kill it. No spells would work against it and it looked crazy. It was really odd, it didn't look like a mindless troll that we've been taught about.'

'What happened to Scorpius?' asked Albus, feeling sick.

'He's in the hospital wing with the rest of the students who were injured. I'm not sure if he'll make it,' Megan said, looking pale.

'You should go to McGonagall now,' James told Albus.

Megan stared at Albus with her mouth open. 'You didn't, did you?'

Albus stared at his feet and Megan looked at him in disappointment.

'The sooner you tell her the better,' was all Megan said before leaving.

'Come on,' James said kindly as he lead his brother up to McGonagall's office.

Albus felt like throwing up as they entered her office. She was staring out the window looking stern and thoughtful.

'Yes?' she asked looking at the brothers, wondering what they were doing here.

Albus swallowed and looked at James who nodded.

'I – I helped to bring the troll into the castle,' Albus said shakily.

'You didn't help. You just knew about it,' James corrected. 'Tell her what you told me.'

Nervously, Albus told her about the plan he'd been told about but had done nothing to stop. McGonagall didn't say anything for a long time.

'James, leave us, please,' she finally said.

James hesitated but left, looking back at his brother as he walked out.

'I'm disappointed in you for not telling someone sooner,' spoke McGonagall.

Albus stared at the floor. Nobody could be more disappointed in him than himself.

'I didn't think their plan would work,' muttered Albus.

'Regardless, you should have told somebody,' McGonagall said. 'But I won't waste my time lecturing you or punishing you. I can see from your face you're punishing yourself enough.'

Albus nodded slightly.

'And you won't tell me who the others were?' McGonagall asked.

Albus shook his head. He wouldn't snitch on them.

McGonagall sighed, clearly already expecting that answer.

'Well you may go then.'

Albus nodded and walked slowly towards the door. Just as he was leaving McGonagall said quietly, 'Albus, don't blame yourself for those injuries. That troll wasn't a normal troll. Someone in the castle bewitched it.'


	6. Christmas

**Chapter Six: Christmas**

25 December 2017

James woke up early on Christmas morning as he usually did. However he didn't feel the usual excitement, instead all he felt was empty. He sighed. This had been happening a lot. He wasn't his usual cheerful self. He was grumpy and hard to get along with. He missed his old self.

He sat up and stretched. He'd been home for a few days and he had been starting to feel a little more like his usual self. He wondered if his strange behaviour had something to do with Hogwarts. He hoped not.

James dressed quickly before quietly making his way into his little sister's room. As usual, Lily was sitting on her bed waiting for him. It was tradition for Lily to wait for James to get up before they went and woke Albus so that they could all go down together. She grinned at her brother and jumped off her bed. Grabbing his hand, she dragged him into Albus' room.

Albus was sleeping like a baby and was not expecting his sister to suddenly jump on his bed and start shouting, 'Albus! Albus! Get up! It's Christmas!'

Albus groaned and tried to push Lily away but was unsuccessful. She jumped on his bed as he covered his face with a pillow. James grinned as he leaned against the doorframe.

'Leave poor Al alone,' their father said coming in. He laughed as he picked up Lily who at nine was still rather small for her age.

She glared at her father as he picked her up.

'I'm not a baby; don't treat me like one. Treat me like an adult, ' she told him. She hated the fact that people could still pick her up.

'Like an adult? Well okay then. But adults don't get presents.'

Lily glared at her father again and then burst out laughing as he put her down and began tickling her. Albus had gotten dressed by this stage but was still looking blurry eyed and unaware of what was going on. Ginny laughed at her son from the doorway where she was standing with James.

'I don't see why we need to get up at 5 am every year,' he muttered when he heard his mother laughing.

'Present time!' Lily announced, ignoring Albus. She grabbed James' hand again and led him downstairs where their presents were.

For the next three hours they sat in a circle and opened presents in turn. Albus and James weren't particularly happy about this arrangement as they wanted to open their presents all at once, but Lily had demanded they do it her way, and they could never really say no to their little sister.

'That must be Ron,' Ginny suddenly said as Lily opened her final present.

Ginny was looking out the window and saw the Weasley family getting out of a car with Ron looking very confused.

'That bloody thing,' muttered Ron when Ginny opened the door. 'Can't even fly. What's the point of it?'

Hermione rolled her eyes as she greeted Ginny before turning to her husband. 'It's good to teach the children about muggle objects.'

Albus sat awkwardly beside Lily and talked to her while Rose came in with her little brother, Hugo. She glanced once at Albus before sighing. Things between Rose and Albus weren't good lately. It wasn't just because of what James had said to her. They had continued to talk afterwards, just not as much. But during the middle of November Rose had started studying excessively. Apparently she had started getting panicked about the monthly test they had started getting and had already started worrying about end of year exams. Albus had tried to talk to her numerous times but she just ignored him.

James looked at Rose and smiled slightly. She just stared back at him coolly though. James sighed. He didn't regret what he'd said to her; though he did regret the way he'd said it. It was around the time he had started feeling strange and had sort of taken his feelings out on her. He'd tried talking to her but she wouldn't listen. She really _was_ stubborn.

'Hi, Rose,' Lily greeted. She grinned and ran to hug her cousin.

James smiled at his sister's innocence. She had no idea of the fights going on. He wished she'd always stay this way. He watched as Lily and Hugo talked excitedly to each other. Albus and Rose both looked at them sadly, as if remembering their youth.

'James, can you come help in the kitchen,' Hermione suddenly shouted.

James frowned, wondering why his aunt was in their kitchen, but got up anyway. He walked in and saw his aunt sitting at the table. He looked around, wondering what she wanted help with. She smiled when she saw him looking around.

'I just wanted to talk to you,' she explained. 'Have a seat.'

James smirked at being offered his own chair but sat down anyway.

'It's about Rose,' Hermione began. 'Is it just me or has she changed?'

James paused. 'I guess so. But Hogwarts changes everyone.'

'That's true,' Hermione commented while biting her lip. 'I'm just worried about her. Did she and Al have a fight or something?'

James hesitated. He didn't really want to explain the whole Violet situation and how Rose and Albus weren't friends anymore mainly because of him.

'Something like that,' mumbled James, suddenly feeling guilty.

'I told you not to worry about her,' Ron suddenly said as he came in. 'Girls are moody at that age. You certainly were.'

Hermione frowned at Ron and he put his hands up and said, 'Joking.'

Ron turned to James and looked serious for once. 'What about that Scorpius guy? What's he like? Rosie won't tell us anything.'

'Uh, kind of cocky, full of himself…' James said as he stood up, wondering how to get out without seeming rude. He didn't really want to tell them about how Rose and Albus were being bullied by him. They'd automatically blame him for not sticking up for them.

'Sounds like his father. Rose isn't hanging out with him, is she?'

'Ron!' Hermione said in a disapproving voice.

'Oh, come on! Like you want her hanging around with someone like that,' Ron said defensively.

'But that's not why you don't want her hanging around with him.'

James slowly backed out of the room and was thankful when he made it back to the sitting room where his father was having an in-depth discussing about how hard Potions was with Rose. Ginny meanwhile was chatting with Hugo and Lily about what they got for Christmas off Santa. Albus was sitting in a corner on his own, rereading a letter he had received that morning.

'From Violet?' James asked as he sat down beside his brother.

Albus looked up before nodding. James sighed. His brother hadn't been particularly talkative with him lately and he had no idea why.

'Did I do something?' James asked. He'd been meaning to ask Albus for weeks but it never seemed to be the right time. Not that Christmas day was the right time.

Albus stared at his brother as if deciding whether to talk about it now. He finally put away his letter and began speaking, 'I heard you that day with Rose.'

James frowned, he wasn't expecting that. 'So what?'

Albus glared at him. 'So you don't decide who I hang around with. And now Rose barely talks to me.'

'In fairness, you're ignoring her too,' James put in.

Albus sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. 'I know. I tried to talk to her when she was studying but she wouldn't listen to me. I wanted to tell her I still wanted to be friends with her. But she just thinks I hate her and that all I want is to be friends with Violet.'

'Don't you?' James asked in a voice he hadn't meant to be so bitter.

Albus looked hurt before whispering, 'I just wanted a friend.'

James sighed. 'I know, but isn't there other people you can be friends with? Violet _is _a bit odd.'

'You don't know what's it like to be me. Rose has her intelligent and you have your wittiness. I have nothing. I'm shy and boring. Nobody wants to be friends with me. And even if they do, it's only because I'm a Potter, or because I'm your brother. Violet doesn't care about that. She actually listens to me and my opinions.'

Albus said all this quickly and took a breathe before looking down, as if realising he'd just said it out loud.

James stared at his brother. He had no idea Albus felt that way. He'd always assumed Albus preferred being alone, he didn't know it was because he didn't know how to make friends.

Before James could reply, their house was mobbed with a group of cousins that had just arrived. James spent the day trying to find his brother and talk to him but he was always talking to one of their cousins. By dinner, every single relative they knew seemed to be there. Dinner was an unpleasant experience for Rose, Albus, and James who all seemed to be fighting with each other. Their cousins noticed their lack of communication but didn't say anything.

As James helped to clean off with Victoire and Molly, they looked at him sympathetically.

'You should talk to Teddy, he's really helpful,' Molly told James.

James raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't know Molly and Teddy were friends. Victoire too looked surprised.

'He really listens to you and cares,' Molly continued in a sort of dreamy voice.

Victoire didn't look impressed. 'When were you talking to Teddy?'

Molly looked her cousin up and down before responding, 'We write letters to each other all the time.'

Victoire glared at Molly. 'Well stop. He's my boyfriend, not yours.'

'He loves me,' Molly said with certainty.

James stood still, wondering what to do. He really didn't want to be in the middle of a girl fight.

'He does not; he loves me.'

'Liar!' screamed Molly.

'He's not going to marry you, he's going to marry me!' Victoire shouted.

'He certainly is not,' came a calm voice from the doorway.

James looked over and saw his uncle, Bill standing in the doorway. He wondered how long he'd been standing there for. Victoire stared at her father with an open mouth.

'What's going on?' Teddy asked, walking into the kitchen and smiling.

James tired to warn him with his eyes to get out but he didn't see.

'I just heard the announcement,' Bill said dryly. 'Have you set a date yet?'

Teddy looked like a deer caught in the headlights while Molly looked heartbroken.

'I thought you loved me!' she screamed at him as she began crying.

Teddy, who looked terrified, looked between a scarily calm Bill and a sobbing Molly.

'What?' he asked Molly in confusion.

Apparently this wasn't the right thing to say as she just sobbed harder and ran out of the room.

'If you think you're marrying my daughter, you're severely wrong,' Bill said, ignoring Molly.

'We weren't planning on getting married for a few years,' Teddy tried to explain.

'She's _seventeen!_'

'Dad!' shouted Victoire in embarrassment.

James hoped they wouldn't notice him standing awkwardly in the corner.

'Never go near my daughter again,' Bill told Teddy in a quiet voice.

Teddy looked sadly at Victoire before looking back to Bill who looked ready to strangle him and walked silently by him.

'I hate you!' screamed Victoire as she ran out the other door. James could hear her crying as she ran towards the bathroom.

Bill sighed and looked over at James, obviously not forgetting he was there.

'You probably think I'm being too harsh,' he said.

'A little,' said James who was still freaked out from Molly.

'I probably was,' admitted Bill, as he looked tiredly down the hall to the bathroom where they could hear Victoire crying. 'It's just the first thing I think when I hear teenage marriage is…'

He trailed off and looked back at James.

'Pregnancy?' he guessed. 'I'm not four, you can talk about teenage pregnancy.'

Bill laughed slightly. 'All of you are growing up too fast. I treat Victoire like she's still my little girl.'

His gazed into the distance as if remembering something.

'I should probably go apologise,' he murmured moments later as he walked down towards the bathroom.

James sighed in relief as he went. This was far too much drama for him. He walked outside where it was dark out. Teddy was over pushing Lily on the swing. He was smiling but looked devastated.

'What's wrong?' Lily asked.

'I'm just sad Christmas is over,' Teddy lied.

'Oh,' Lily said. 'Well there's always next year.'

Teddy laughed. 'How grown up of you.'

Lily grinned at him.

'Lily, can I talk to Teddy alone please?' James asked his sister sweetly.

Lily glared at him before sighing and dramatically leaving. As she left, Teddy's smile dropped.

'Are you going to tell me there's other girls out there? Because if you are, don't bother.'

James raised an eyebrow. 'I'm twelve. I shouldn't really be giving anyone advice. I just came to tell you that Uncle Bill said he overreacting a bit and he's gone to apologise to Victoire now.'

Teddy looked hopeful.

'But I think you should probably not bring up the marriage thing again until you guys are in your twenties,' James advised.

Teddy laughed before sighing. 'It wasn't even a real proposal. She just asked if we'd get married when we're older and I told her yes.'

James laughed. 'You should tell Bill that. He'll understand. Especially since women in our family have a tendency to overreact.'

Teddy nodded as he sighed again, thinking about Molly.

'All I did was reply to her letters…' Teddy complained. 'I didn't mean to give her the wrong idea, though I've no idea how I could give her the wrong idea. All our letters were friendly, though she did put in some flirty things that I politely ignored.'

Teddy looked at James and laughed. 'Sorry. Forgot you were only twelve for a minute. I'll go complain to Victoire if her father will allow me near her.'

Teddy walked back inside. James stared after him, wondering why there was so much drama in his family's lives, before he went back into the sitting room and sat down on the couch next to his mother. His father, Rose, and Albus were the only other one's in the room. Ginny nodded slightly at her husband and the two of them stood up and left.

James rolled his eyes as they heard them lock the doors.

'What're they doing?' Albus asked.

'Locking us in here to work things out,' James explained.

There was silence as they looked at one another. James finally sighed and spoke, 'Fine, as the oldest, I'll go first. Rose, I'm sorry I spoke to you so rudely, I was on my male period.'

Rose smirked but tried to hide it.

'I was an ass, please accept my deepest apologies,' James continued. 'Albus, I'm sorry I was so rude to Violet, as I mentioned before, male period. I promise not to interfere with your friendships and I promise to listen to you if you ever need to talk to me.'

'Fine,' Rose said after a silence. 'Albus, I'm sorry I was mean about Violet. I'll try not to judge her so harshly.'

'And I'm sorry about complaining when you studied too much,' muttered Albus.

Rose narrowed her eyes. 'I didn't study too much. You just don't understand.'

James felt a fight coming on. 'Guys, don't fight just after you've made up.'

'Why wouldn't I understand?' Albus asked, ignoring James.

'You just wouldn't.'

'Because I'm not as good as you?'

'No, because I'm in Ravenclaw and the sorting hat was going to put you in Hufflepuff!'

There was silence and Rose's eyes widened as she realised what she'd just said.

'Albus, I didn't mean that,' Rose began but Albus wasn't listening. He'd stood up and had banged on the door, ordering them to open it.

There was a commotion behind the door as James' parents argued about whether opening it or not. The door was finally opened by Lily while her parents were busy arguing. Albus stormed by her and Lily stared after him in concern.

'Al? What's wrong?' she shouted as he stormed up the stairs.

James stood up quickly and followed after his brother, ignoring Rose's apologies. He went to Albus' room but it was locked.

'Al, open the door or I'll knock it down,' James said seriously.

There was a pause before he heard a click as the door unlocked. James walked in and saw Albus sitting silently on his bed. He went over and sat next to him.

'What's wrong?'

Albus turned and stared at his brother. 'What do you think?'

'The Hufflepuff thing?' James asked, not seeing why it was such a big deal.

Albus remained silent and James took that as a yes.

'Was what she said true?'

'Yes,' whispered Albus. 'The sorting hat told me it was going to put me in Hufflepuff and I completely freaked and demanded to be put in Gryffindor.'

'Why?' James asked in confusion.

'Because it'd be embarrassing being put in Hufflepuff. Not only would I be the shy, boring Potter but I'd be in the one in Hufflepuff as well. I couldn't handle that. And to think I had spent the whole time worrying about being in Slytherin…'

James sighed. 'Al, nobody would have cared if you were in Hufflepuff.'

'Dad would have.'

James at his brother in shock. 'Of course he wouldn't. He loves us no matter what house we're in. He's not a Malfoy.'

Albus smiled slightly. 'I just thought our whole family would be embarrassed of me. They already think I'm the weird, uninteresting one.'

James laughed causing Albus to glare at him.

'They don't think that. They think you're the adorable, quiet one. They love you regardless of the house you're in. Plus girls love the silent types,' James told him while winking at him.

Albus blushed and stared at the letter he'd received from Violet.

'That's a discussion for another day,' James said as he got up.

'What is?'

'Your crush on Violet.'

'I don't –'Albus began to protest but James held up his hand.

'I don't want to hear it. We'll discuss your plan for winning her heart another time, but now are you okay?'

Albus nodded. 'I think so.'

'Good,' smiled James.

He walked out of his brother's bedroom and could hear arguing downstairs. Deciding he didn't want to be involved in any more fights, he headed back to his bedroom. He was surprised when he found Teddy there, holding James' bottle of pumpkin juice.

'Is this yours?' Teddy asked.

'Yes,' replied James, wondering what he was up to. 'What're you doing in my room?'

Teddy blushed slightly. 'Sorry. You just seemed a bit off today, and it wasn't just the fact you were in a fight with your cousin and brother. You seem different.'

James stared at Teddy. So somebody else had noticed it too.

'So?' James asked as he sat on his bed.

'I thought someone might have poisoned you or cast a spell on you so I had a little snoop around your room.'

James snorted. It was highly unlikely he'd been poisoned, it was probably just hormones.

'And?' asked James.

'You haven't been poisoned,' admitted Teddy. 'But something was definitely slipped into your pumpkin juice. Where do you get this?'

James stared at it in shock. 'A bottle is on my locker every morning…'

Teddy stared at James in disapproval. 'And you just drink it?'

James blushed realising how foolish he was.

'Well what's wrong with it?' James asked, diverting the subject away from its stupidity.

'I'll have to bring it back to the ministry but from the smell of it, I've come across it before. It was used on muggles recently to try get them to walk out in front of cars –'

James frowned. 'Someone tried to get me to walk out in front of a car?'

Teddy sighed. 'If you'd let me finish… After some research, we realised they'd all been given the same potion beforehand. The potion was slipped into their drinks and luckily one muggle still had their drink in their bag. We studied it and found out it's tasteless and colourless. The only way to detect it is it's very sweet smell –'

'But what does it do?' James asked impatiently.

Teddy sighed and stared in concern at James.

'It hypnotizes you.'


	7. Eventful Nights (Part 1)

**Chapter Seven: Eventful Nights (Part 1)**

22 January 2018 – 23 January 2018

Time at home was tense, as Albus had taken to completely ignoring Rose, no matter how hard she tried to talk to him. James felt sorry for her but wanted no more drama in his life, especially when he was dealing with the fact he'd been hypnotized.

When they returned to school, the bottle's of pumpkin juice kept appearing on his locker as they had before. This time however he just sent them away to Teddy. He got a letter from Teddy saying that it was the same potion that'd been used with the muggles, and it sometimes caused mood changes. James felt sick as he read the letter. Who would want to hypnotize him? And what had he done while he'd be hypnotized?

Determined not to let it bother him, he decided to pull a prank to lift his spirits. As he ate his breakfast he thought about what he could do.

'New prank idea?' asked his friend, Jack, sitting down opposite him, noticing the expression James only wore when thinking of pranks.

James nodded thoughtfully.

'Awesome. We haven't pulled one in ages,' Jack said grinning. 'What's the plan?'

'We're going to switch all the floo powder with sherbet powder,' James told him.

Jack grinned as they began to discuss the details. That night, they snuck out of the dorm with Ryan and split up, each taking different rooms in the castle. They spent the night searching for any floo powder they could find, and switching it with sherbet powder. James had no idea that the floo network in Hogwarts was so big.

As the trio met back at the Fat Lady's portrait, they congratulated themselves on not getting caught. However as they looked at the portrait, they realised with a sinking feeling that she'd gone off for her midnight stroll around the other portraits.

They sat down outside, feeling nervous and hoping she wouldn't be too long. The hours ticked by and Ryan and Jack fell asleep but James didn't dare in case a teacher might walk by. As he forced himself to sit upright he saw a figure walking towards them. Panicking, he squinted to see if it was a teacher but the figure looked far too small.

'What're you doing out of your dormitory?' James asked in surprise when he saw it was Violet.

Violet stared at James in horror before turning her expression to one of disinterest.

'Well what are you doing out of _your _dormitory?' she asked in return.

'I was pulling a prank,' James told her, not liking the way she was avoiding the question. 'What about you?'

'I was hungry.'

'And you don't have any food in your dormitory?' James asked, not believing her.

She glared at him but didn't answer his question and instead asked, 'What're you doing waiting outside?'

'In case you haven't noticed, the Fat Lady is nowhere to be seen.'

Violet glanced at her watch. 'It's nearly 4am. She'll be here soon.'

James stared at Violet suspiciously as the Fat Lady arrived back. How had she known? He didn't get time to ask as she darted inside and James was left to wake up his drowsy friends.

The next morning there was panic around the school as the floo network stopped working. No one had any idea what had happened and they were outraged to find out that the floo powder wasn't actually floo powder. James however found all this amusing and bragged to his other friends about what he'd done.

'If anyone has any information about the exchange of floo powder to sherbet powder, please inform myself or Filch,' McGonagall announced at breakfast that morning.

She'd said this in a stern voice but James saw that she smiled slightly as she sat down. Although tired, James had a very enjoyable breakfast, eating as much as he could while telling an overdramatic story of their adventure the night before and how a teacher had nearly caught them waiting outside the Fat Lady's portrait but she'd arrived back just in time.

As James walked down the corridor, grinning to himself at his brilliance, he came across Scorpius and Luke taunting Rose. James stared at Scorpius who looked pale and sick still from the troll incident. He'd barely survived and had been in hospital for almost all of Christmas. When he'd woken up after it he'd lost his memory of the past two months. No matter how many spells they'd used, they couldn't get his memory back. This had never happened to someone involved in a troll accident, which just further proved that someone had bewitched the troll. James wondered if someone had placed a spell on Scorpius while he was unconscious to make him forget something.

'Get lost,' James told them as he neared them.

'Here to rescue Rosie posie?' Scorpius asked, using James' nickname for Rose.

James glared at Scorpius. 'What's your problem?'

'Your family,' Scorpius replied just as Filch turned the corner and walked towards them.

'And I know it was you who switched the floo powder,' hissed Scorpius. 'So I'd be careful if I were you.'

James narrowed his eyes. 'Go ahead. Tell Filch, I dare you.'

'Filch, James was the one who switched the floo powder,' Luke suddenly shouted down the corridor.

Scorpius turned to his friend, looking outraged.

'Is that so? I'm sure the headmistress would love to hear about this,' Filch asked as he stared at James nastily. He hobbled forward and grabbed James' arm and began dragging him towards McGonagall's office.

'What'd you do that for?' James heard Scorpius ask angrily as he was dragged off.

McGonagall wasn't impressed with James at all. She stared at him in a disapproving manner.

'Even your father wasn't in as much trouble as this,' she sighed.

James grinned. His father always lied and said that he'd never once been in trouble, but James knew that couldn't possibly be true. He just wanted James to stop pulling pranks.

'I've no choice but to give you a month's detention,' McGonagall told him.

James continued to grin. He'd expected more than a month's detention, but obviously McGonagall knew that detention wouldn't stop him from pulling pranks.

'With Filch,' added McGonagall, looking pleased to see James' grin vanish. Filch was awful to have detention with.

'I'm sorry,' McGonagall said, shrugging and not looking sorry at all. 'But maybe detention with Filch will help you to stop getting in so much trouble.'

James sighed and refrained himself from telling her it certainly would not and that it would make him want to pull pranks even more.

'If this happens again I'm going to have to write home,' McGonagall told him seriously.

James grinned again. McGonagall was always threatening him with this but somehow never actually seemed to do it. He wondered why. It wasn't because she was weak.

McGonagall sighed, seeing James' grin reappear. 'You may go now.'

Albus was waiting outside McGonagall's office for him when he walked out.

'How long?' Albus asked as they walked back towards their common room.

'A month with Filch,' groaned James.

Albus winced. 'Well at least Scorpius isn't talking to Luke now.'

'Why?'

'He wasn't actually going to tell Filch; he just wanted to scare you. He doesn't want to be associated with a snitch now,' Albus said, causing James to laugh.

As they turned the corner they ran straight into Scorpius who was looked annoyed. He stared at James as if debating whether or not to say something. Instead he turned to Albus.

'I heard you were going to be in Hufflepuff,' sneered Scorpius.

Albus blushed and James wondered how Scorpius knew. Scorpius somehow had a way of knowing everything about everybody. James' theory of someone casting a spell on him to make him forget the past two months was starting to become more plausible.

'So what?' James asked.

'So? Hufflepuff's for the weak.'

'It is not,' Albus said, looking angry.

Scorpius raised his eyebrow at the fact that Albus had actually spoken back to him.

'Prove it. I challenge you to a duel. I'll even let your brother be your second.'

'When and where?' asked James.

'Tonight in the trophy room. Be there at midnight,' Scorpius said before stalking off.

'We're not actually going are we?' Albus asked, looking nervous.

'Going where?' asked Rose who had just turned the corner and saw her cousins standing there.

Albus stared at her coldly but didn't reply.

'To a duel with Malfoy tonight in the trophy room,' James explained.

Rose stared at them both with her mouth open. 'Are you two completely dense?'

'Well apparently you think so,' Albus muttered.

Rose blushed.

'Scorpius' father tried that on Uncle Harry and my dad when they were in Hogwarts. He never showed up and they almost got caught by Filch,' Rose told them.

James thought the story sounded familiar. But Scorpius wasn't smart enough to think of tricking them like that.

'Scorpius? You and him are on first name basis?' Albus asked, ignoring everything else she said.

Rose blushed again. 'That doesn't matter; I'm trying to warn you!'

'You just don't think I'm smart enough. You and Scorpius are just alike. Come on, James.'

Albus walked off and James just shrugged at Rose before following after him.

That night, Albus and James snuck out of their common room and quietly made their way to the trophy room. They impatiently waited for Scorpius to arrive, and as the clock stuck midnight, they began to wonder if Rose was right after all.

'Do you think –' Albus began to ask but was interrupted by a cat strolling into the trophy room. Mrs. Norris stared up at James and Albus.

'How is that cat still alive?' hissed James, wondering if Filch had used a potion on it to keep it from dying.

However Albus just glared back at James. 'Really? That's what you have to say? Filch will be here any second! You go ahead and I'll distract him.'

James snorted. 'No way. I'm not letting you take the blame for me.'

'You're already in trouble with McGonagall for the floo powder,' pointed out Albus.

'And so are you for the troll,' reminded James. 'Anyway, if we stopped arguing and actually ran, we might make it back before Filch catches us.'

As James said this, they heard Filch's voice calling to his cat. James grabbed Albus' wrist and dragged him out of the room. However somehow James managed to run into a glass cabinet full of trophy's and the whole thing toppled down, causing a massive crash to echo around the room. Albus and James stood still as Filch ran towards them, grinning like it was Christmas.

'Students out of bed,' he said as he grabbed them both and dragged them out of the room. 'Professor McGonagall will love this.'

Albus and James stared at each other in horror as he pushed them towards the headmistress' office.

'What's going on here?' a voice asked from behind them. James turned around and saw Slughorn in his dressing gown standing behind them.

'Caught these two in the trophy room. They broke a cabinet and caused an awful mess. I'm bringing them to the headmistress right now,' explained Filch.

'Well I'm sure they didn't mean to break the cabinet,' said Slughorn reasonably. 'And they'll clean it up, won't you, boys? No need to bother McGonagall.'

James nodded eagerly while Filch looked in disgust at Slughorn.

'Regardless, they were still out of bed.'

Slughorn laughed. 'I hardly see that a reason to disturb the headmistress. I'm sure they were just hungry and went out for a snack. I often find myself peckish at midnight. In fact that's what I was doing before I bumped into you.'

'Yes, Albus was feeling sick and I thought it might be because he was hungry as he didn't eat much at dinner,' lied James.

Slughorn smiled at James. 'See? What a kind boy. Now they'll clean up the mess tomorrow and I'll escort them back to their common room. No harm done.'

And with that, Slughorn walked off with James and Albus dashing after him. They could hear Filch's protests but neither turned around.

'I'm still going to the headmistress about this tomorrow!' shouted Filch.

James sighed, knowing he'd probably get even more detention for this. However at least Slughorn had saved them from going to her in the middle of the night. McGonagall didn't like to be disturbed while she was sleeping.

'Now, what's the real reason you were out of bed?' Slughorn asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

James glanced at Albus.

'A student challenged us to a duel,' Albus said, not saying which student it was.

'Ah,' Slughorn said in understanding. 'I hope you won?'

'He didn't show up,' James said bitterly.

Slughorn frowned just as they arrived to the Fat Lady.

'Well I'd advise you not to accept a duel again. Especially since Filch seems to be exceptionally good at his job. Now goodnight.'

'Scorpius set us up,' muttered Albus as they entered their common room. 'Rose was right.'

'Maybe you should tell her that,' suggested James.

Albus stared at his brother, looking as if he was going to protest before he sighed. 'Yeah, maybe.'

James tiredly made his way up to his dormitory. As he was about to climb into bed he spotted a small vile on his locker with a piece of parchment underneath it. Frowning, he read the parchment.

_Abigail Mooney – Gryffindor_

_The same as usual, slip the potion into her goblet at dinner. Follow her after dinner and once she faints, bring her to me in the Forbidden Forest._

James reread the parchment three times wondering what it meant. A sweet smell was coming off it and James realised it was the same smell that had come from the drink he'd been hypnotized with. The person who was hypnotizing him must still think he was hypnotized. He stared at the note feeling sick. It had said "the same as usual", how many times had he done this? And what did she do with the students?

James felt torn. On one hand, he knew he should ignore the parchment and vile or just send it off to Teddy. On the other hand, he wanted to see who was hypnotizing him and what he or she was doing with the students.

James bit his lip as he struggled to make his decision. Finally he sighed and sat down feeling nervous. He was going to do it.


	8. Eventful Nights (Part 2)

**Chapter Eight: Eventful Nights (Part 2)**

24 January 2018

James didn't sleep well that night as he tried to convince himself that he was making the right decision. He tossed and turned and finally got up around 5am, deciding that there wasn't much point in staying in bed if he wasn't going to sleep. He wandered around the castle, waiting for others to wake up. As he walked back towards the common room around an hour later, he spotted a girl climbing through the portrait hole. James followed afterwards and wasn't at all surprised to see Violet waiting for him when he entered the common room.

'Were you following me?' she demanded.

James frowned at her. 'Of course not. But why would it matter if I was? What were you doing?'

James glanced at her hands, which were clutching something in a brown paper bag. When she saw him staring she put it behind her back.

'It's none of your business what I was doing.'

'And what's that?' James asked referring to the object she was clutching behind her.

Violet narrowed her eyes at James but didn't reply. Instead she turned around and made her way back up to her dormitory. James stared after her, getting a strange feeling about her. Rose was right. There definitely _was_ something weird about her.

The day passed slowly as James waited for dinner to arrive. Albus stared at him with concern whenever they passed each other in the corridors. Apparently James was looking sick and pale as in almost every class he was asked by the teachers if he'd like to go to the hospital wing.

Before dinner, he was called to Professor McGonagall's office. As James knocked on the door, he wondered what he was being called for. But as he entered and saw Albus standing looking like he was going to throw up, he realised why he was there. He'd almost forgotten about the trophy room last night.

'I assume you know why you're here,' McGonagall said sternly as James stood beside his brother.

'Honestly, James, you really are a bad example to your brother. And just yesterday I was warning you about not causing any more trouble,' McGonagall said with disappointment in her voice.

'It wasn't James' fault –' Albus began.

'It's nice of you to stick up for your brother, but he's the eldest and should have known not to accept a duel from another student.'

James and Albus stared at her in shock. How had she known?

'Slughorn came to me this morning, just after Filch. He was most insistent that you weren't punished, but I'm afraid I really do have to. Albus, two weeks detention with Slughorn, and James, add another month to your detention with Filch. You should have known better,' McGonagall told them.

She paused then and looked to be debating whether to say something or not. She turned to James.

'I will be writing home to your parents this evening. Perhaps they will be able to control you and teach you not to influence your brother so badly.'

James felt the blood drain from his face. His father would be furious and both his parents would be so disappointed in him, especially for not taking care of his brother.

'I'm sorry but maybe you'll learn to think twice after this. You may go,' McGonagall said, looking at him with a little sympathy.

'Are you okay?' Albus asked as they walked towards the Great Hall.

'I'm great,' James lied, trying but failing to put a smile on his face.

'No you're not. And it's not just because of McGonagall, you've been looking pale all day,' Albus said.

James looked at his brother and wondered if he should tell him. As they entered the Great Hall, he decided it would be best not to. He didn't need to put his brother in any more danger.

'I'm fine,' James insisted.

He looked around and spotted Abigail sitting by herself at the end of the table. She was a short, freckly second year that preferred reading to socializing. James always thought she suited Ravenclaw better than Gryffindor.

Albus looked like he was about to argue but James spoke up, 'Look, there's Violet. I'll see you later.'

Before Albus could say anything, James had hurried off and sat himself in front of Abigail. She looked up from the book she was reading and her glasses slide down her nose slightly. She pushed them back and frowned at James.

'Are you here to play a joke on me?' she asked.

James looked confused. 'No, why would I do that?'

Abigail looked like she didn't believe him. 'You're popular. Don't popular's pick on the losers?'

'You're not a loser,' lied James as he spotted his friends looking at him strangely from the middle of the table.

'James, come down here. Some of her weirdness might rub off on you!' shouted one of his friends.

James blushed as Abigail turned to look at the boys. James realised this would be the perfect time to slip in the potion. He quickly took it out of his pocket and unscrewed the lid, pouring the whole of it into Abigail's goblet.

Abigail looked back just as James slid the empty vile back into his pocket. She looked at him strangely, as if wondering why he was still there.

'Shouldn't you head back to your minions?' she asked.

James shrugged. 'I'm tired of them at the moment.'

This wasn't a lie. He hadn't realised that his friends played so many jokes on the less popular. Thinking back, they always seemed to be making fun of them. James had laughed along, thinking it was just a joke but now that he actually thought of how the people who the joke was played on must have felt, he was starting to feel guilty.

Abigail rolled her eyes in disgust and sipped her goblet. 'Typical. You just get tired of your friends. Do you dump your friends and get a new group every few months so you stay entertained?'

James glared at her. 'That's not what I meant.'

Abigail finished off her goblet before staring at James. 'Sure it's not. I don't know what trick you plan to play on me, but I'm not falling for it.'

She stood and grabbed her book before storming out. James waited a few moments before following her. He ignored his friend's shouts at him as he followed Abigail out of the Great Hall. As he followed her down a corridor, she suddenly began to slow down and began walking oddly. She put her hand against the wall to steady herself but it was no use. She fell against the wall as she fainted.

James ran over and stared at the unconscious girl. He didn't have to bring her to the Forbidden Forest. But then he would never find out who was trying to hypnotize him or what they were doing with the students.

Taking a deep breath, James picked her up, struggling a little and tried to hurriedly make his way out of one of the side entrances. However under the weight of Abigail, he moved slowly and he panicked that somebody would see him. Luckily, nobody did and he made his way towards the Forbidden Forest.

While James struggled to carry Abigail and was debating whether he could drag her or not, he noticed a wolf sitting at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest. Was it some kind of guard dog? James cautiously made his way to the wolf, wondering if it would start barking. However it didn't and simply stood up and started walking into the forest. James paused, wondering what it was doing. The wolf stopped and looked back at James as if wondering why he wasn't following.

Nervously, and with his arms almost numb, he followed the wolf deeper and deeper into the forest. James wondered if he'd ever be able to find the way back again.

'You didn't have to carry her. You normally just drag her,' a croaky voice said.

James was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realised he'd reached some kind of cave. An woman who was hunched over was waiting at the front of the cave. She had a cloak on that covered her face but James could tell from her voice that she was old.

James didn't know how to reply. This was obviously the woman who had hypnotized him. He didn't know what he was meant to act like when he was hypnotized. Luckily the woman didn't expect an answer and simply turned and slowly made her way back inside the cave. James followed, feeling unsure.

'Dump her there,' the woman told James when they arrived in part of the cave that was well lit.

James put Abigail down gently and stared around the cave. There were all sorts of odd machines scattered around the cave and from further on in the cave, where he couldn't see, he could hear the wailing and screaming of some kind of creature.

'Stole these from some muggles,' the woman explained when she saw he was staring at a certain group of machines. 'The other muggles thought they were insane. They tried to clone people using these machines but it didn't work.'

James stared at the woman, wondering why she'd care about cloning. He was sure that wizards could learn to clone if they really wanted to. They didn't need muggle technology.

The woman moved over to Abigail and examined her.

'You gave her the whole vial?' the woman checked.

James nodded and she looked satisfied. She took out a syringe and proceeded to take vials of blood. James began to get worried as the woman took more and more blood. Just before James was about to say something, the woman stopped.

'That should be enough for now. I don't want to kill her… yet.'

The woman burst out laughing as she shuffled over to another set of machines. She placed some of the blood in a fridge that was full of other vials of blood, before turning back to her machines and placing the blood inside one of them. Numbers and words that James had never heard of before popped up on the screen. He recognized some symbols from the periodic table and he wished that he'd paid more attention to Aunt Hermione's science lessons.

'Hmmm…' the woman muttered. 'She has some nice blood. She might be the one.'

The woman glanced back at the girl before looking at James.

'Is she intelligent?'

James nodded, feeling nervous of the woman.

The woman pulled down her hood and squinted at the girl to get a better look. James stared at the woman in horror. She was balding, with only tufts of grey hair left on her head. Her skin was so old and wrinkled that James wondered how she could be alive. Her teeth weren't much better, she had many missing and the rest were crooked.

'She's not very pretty, is she?' the woman said, staring at Abigail. 'But she's intelligent, so I suppose that's better.'

The woman looked up and saw James staring at her. She grinned at him, making James feel sick.

'This is what happens when you spend years trying to clone yourself. Of course I'm so old that I probably wouldn't look any better even if I hadn't experimented so much on myself. Though the experimenting has prolonged my life somehow.'

As she spoke she seemed to be speaking more to herself. She suddenly realised that James was staring at her and she grinned again.

'Tie that hideous girl up back there,' the woman ordered and pointed into the darkness where the wailing and screeching were coming from.

James swallowed hard, not really want to go down there. The woman snapped her fingers and dim lights lit up the way, though barely. James still had to squint as he carried Abigail down to the end of the corridor. He tried not to look anywhere but straight ahead and he finally spotted a post with rope attached to it. He gently put her down and tied her loosely to the post, feeling guilty.

James stood up, not bearing to stare at her any longer. He glanced around and wished he hadn't. Cages upon cages lined the caves walls and the creatures in them were more hideous than James could even imagine. They could have been humans if it hadn't been for the extra limbs and their deformed bodies and faces. James looked away, his heart beating fast. He walked quickly back to the woman, keeping his eyes on the ground and trying to ignore the screaming from the creatures.

'They're annoying aren't they?' muttered the woman when she saw James return back.

James nodded his head, thinking that agreeing with her with be the best option.

'I only chose that girl because she was so unpopular. Popular children are noticed when they're missing but unpopular children aren't,' the woman commented. 'However I'm starting to run out of unpopular children.'

She said this in a slightly annoyed tone as if she were talking about running out of milk and not children. The woman turned back to James and looked him up and down before sighing.

'I'm sure your genetics are fascinating but you're a Potter. You'd be noticed within seconds of vanishing. What a shame.'

James tried to stop his hands from shaking and silently thanked his father for being Harry Potter.

'I need you to do one more thing and then you may return back to Hogwarts,' the woman said. 'I need you to dump them in the forest.'

The woman pointed to a pile in the corner that was covered by a sheet.

'They're starting to stink up the place. Damian will bring you to the usual spot and then escort you back to the castle. I'll send you another note tomorrow,' the woman said as she hobbled off down to Abigail.

At the mention of his name, Damian the wolf ran into the cave and sat by James, waiting for him. James cautiously made his way over to the sheet and took it off slowly. He felt sick as he looked at what he had to dispose of. Two deformed and unmoving creatures lay beneath the sheet, their eyes staring up at James, unblinking.

Not looking at them, James picked them up and was thankful that they were light. He followed Damian out of the cave and was hit with a breeze of fresh air. He breathed in the air gratefully, not realising how stuffy it had been in the cave. Damian brought him into the middle of the forest where James realised he'd been before while he was hypnotized.

James stared around him at the piles and piles of dead creatures that he must have disposed of for that deranged old woman. He gently placed the creatures down, feeling horrified. He couldn't bear to look at them for any longer and Damian quickly led him out of the dumpsite, as if he too didn't like being there.

James felt his chest tightening as he followed Damian back through the forest. He forced himself to breathe as he tried not to panic. He had to tell somebody. But who would believe him? He had no proof and he had no idea how to get back to the cave or the dumpsite. James felt thankful when he finally saw the castle come into site.

He smiled with relief as he headed back in through one of the side doors. He glanced behind him and saw Damian returning back into the forest. James hoped he'd never see him again.

'James,' a voice suddenly said, causing him to jump.

He turned around and saw Albus staring at him with concern. Beside him was Violet. It felt strange to see something so normal as his brother after all the things he'd just seen.

'Are you okay?' Albus asked moving closer to him. 'You seem really freaked out.'

'He's just tired, Albus,' Violet tried to say but Albus ignored her.

'I'm fine,' James lied, his eyes still looking wide and scared. He tried to force a normal expression onto his face but couldn't.

'James –' Albus began, starting to look even more worried. He'd never seen his brother like this.

'I'm just tired. I'm going to bed,' James said and before Albus could reply, he dashed off towards the common room.

He entered the common room quickly and ignored his friends when they tried to talk to him. He rushed up to his dormitory, needing to be alone. Thankfully everyone was still in the common room and nobody had decided to have an early night.

James sat down on his bed and hugged his knees. He buried his face against his knees as he tried to keep calm. Everything he'd saw came rushing back to him and he struggled to control his breathing. He lay back and stared at the ceiling, forcing himself to take deep breathes. What had he done?


	9. Scorpius

**Chapter Nine: Scorpius **

23 February 2018

Albus began to start worrying about his brother when after a month he still hadn't returned to his normal self. What didn't help matters was the howler that James had gotten from their parents. Albus didn't know what was going on with his brother but he knew that the howler had made things even worse.

James tried to act normal but failed miserably. At times he would seem like he was about to tell Albus what was wrong but instead would shut his mouth and say he was fine before walking off.

'He's nearly a teenager, he's bound to get moody,' Violet said when Albus expressed his concern.

He sighed as they walked to Potions. He had a feeling Violet didn't seem to care about James. She didn't really seem to care about anyone but herself.

They arrived in the dungeons and Albus went to sit beside Scorpius. Megan smiled and turned around to talk to him as they waited for Slughorn to arrive.

'So what's going on with you and Violet?' she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Scorpius snorted. 'Clearly nothing. Not even she would go out with him.'

Albus glared at Scorpius.

'Well I would,' Megan said turning to Scorpius. 'Would you have a problem with that?'

Scorpius looked furious. 'You know what he'd say.'

Megan raised her eyebrow and asked sweetly, 'Sorry, who are you talking about?'

Before Scorpius could reply, Slughorn came in and told them to get to work on their potions. As usual, Albus sat back and let Scorpius do the work. He would have tried to help but it'd just have irritated Scorpius.

'What was that about?' Albus asked, forcing himself not to sound too interested.

Scorpius frowned at the book as he read the instructions. 'Nothing.'

'Really? Because it sounded like you two were flirting.'

Scorpius looked up at Albus in horror. '_Flirting? _With Megan? That's disgusting.'

Albus raised an eyebrow wondering why Scorpius looked like he wanted to throw up.

'She was lying about wanting to go out with you, you know. She just wanted to annoy me,' commented Scorpius.

Albus sighed. He had known that but somehow Scorpius saying it made it worse.

'Not that you'd even have to courage to ask her out,' continued Scorpius.

'I'm not a coward,' Albus said fiercely.

'Is that so?'

'Well I'm not the one who arranged a duel, never showed up, and snitched to Filch,' Albus said angrily.

Scorpius stared blankly at Albus. 'What're you talking about?'

Albus stared at Scorpius suspiciously. He had to be lying. But he really did look confused. Scorpius stared back at Albus before sighing in annoyance and deciding to ignore his previous statement.

'Prove you're not a coward by spending a night in the Forbidden Forest,' dared Scorpius. 'I'll come with you and if you spend longer than me I'll stop taunting you.'

Albus snorted. 'Yeah, right. I'll go out there, you won't turn up, and Filch will catch me.'

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. 'Well I'd go out with you; I wouldn't meet you there. I don't trust you not to tell on me.'

Albus paused before saying, 'Fine.'

'We'll go after dinner,' Scorpius said. 'Now shut up. You're distracting me from making this potion, and we both know you're useless.'

The rest of the day passed slowly for Albus as he began to wonder if he'd made the right decision in agreeing to try and spend the night in the Forbidden Forest. He tried to make himself feel better by telling himself that Scorpius wouldn't even look for him after dinner. However just as Albus was finishing off his dinner, Scorpius appeared in front of him.

Scorpius smirked at Albus' disappointed face and said, 'Didn't think I'd actually show up? I'm not a coward like you.'

Albus glared at him and stood up. 'Neither am I.'

Albus strode out of the Great Hall, with Scorpius following leisurely behind him. As he walked out he saw James staring at him but Albus looked away before his brother could say anything to him. He didn't want to worry him.

As Albus reached the Forbidden Forest he slowed down and looked behind him where Scorpius was.

'What's the matter?' Scorpius asked as he strolled by him and into the forest. 'Scared?'

'Of course not,' Albus said, following after him and hoping his voice sounded braver than he was feeling.

They walked further and further into the forest as the moon began to rise in the sky. Albus began to wonder if they would find their way out again, when he glanced at Scorpius' face and saw worry etched on it.

'Scared?' Albus asked, relishing in the fact that he wasn't the one looking scared for once.

'No,' Scorpius replied quickly though his face still didn't look any less worried. 'Just wondering if I'll be able to find the way back.'

Albus glared at him. 'Why did we go so far in if you didn't know your way around here?'

'Well you could have stopped me. You didn't have to follow.'

Even as they argued they continued to walk. Albus was about to make an angry comment when he suddenly tripped over something and fell on his face. He heard Scorpius laugh but it was soon cut off. He glanced up and saw Scorpius' pale face staring at what Albus had tripped over in horror.

'What is it?' Albus asked as he turned around to look.

However Scorpius didn't reply as Albus saw what it was. Sitting beside him was some kind of deformed creature. It was half the size of Albus and seemed to be covered in some goo and liquid. It appeared to be trying to open it's mouth and eyes but they weren't properly formed and couldn't open properly as some kind of skin as covering them.

'What is that?' Albus asked in horror, still sitting beside it.

The creature rolled over and hit Albus. Suddenly it launched itself at Albus, clawing away at his arms and trying to bite him, though luckily its mouth was still unable to open. However it's nails were long and sharp and dug deeply into Albus' skin. Albus tried to get the creature off him but it clung tightly, it's nails digging in even further.

The creature suddenly flew off and hit a tree with such force that when it fell to the ground, it gave one pathetic shudder before becoming still. Looking around, Albus saw Scorpius standing with a large branch that'd he'd obviously hit the creature with. His eyes were wide as if not believing what he'd done. He noticed Albus staring and put down the branch before offering him a hand.

'Thanks,' Albus muttered as he stood up shakily.

Scorpius didn't reply. He moved towards the creature cautiously as Albus examined his arms. Blood was gushing from them in a way that made him want to throw up. He glanced back at Scorpius who was prodding the creature.

'I think it's dead,' Scorpius said in a faint voice.

'Good,' mumbled Albus.

'I killed it,' said Scorpius in a slightly panicked tone.

'Well it wasn't pureblood in case you were worried,' Albus couldn't help but say. However he didn't have the usual satisfaction of taunting Scorpius and instead felt a twinge of guilt.

Scorpius strangely enough didn't get annoyed at Albus as he usually would. He simply stared at the creature with an expression of pity. Albus wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Surely Scorpius couldn't be feeling sorry for a strange disgusting creature. Albus didn't even feel sorry for it.

'We should probably –' began Scorpius before he stopped. His eyes had widened and he was staring at the ground behind Albus.

Albus turned around and felt like throwing up again. A group of the same kind of creatures sat at the bottom of a tree; sealed eyes and lips, long nails, and blood and goo covered bodies. They rolled about, clawing at each other and the tree, as if trying to feel their way about.

One clawed at the other's mouth and blood gushed out, as the skin that covered the opening of the mouth was broken. The creature let out an inhuman roar as it opened its mouth in delight. Its teeth could now be seen and Albus wondered how teeth could get that sharp. The creature was now moving its hands about, searching for the nearest living thing. It finally found another of it's kind and before Albus knew what it was doing, it bit sharply down on the creature's head. It devoured it within minutes, giving a content sigh as it finished it off. Albus looked back at Scorpius who had a mix of disgust and horror on his face.

The creature suddenly let out a werewolf sort of howl into the sky before suddenly sniffing the air and looking towards Scorpius and Albus; just realising they were there for the first. Luckily, the creature seemed full from its meal and simply sat back.

Albus turned back to Scorpius; about to tell him they should leave when he spotted something behind him. Albus frowned trying to make out what it was. As they came closer Albus realised they were different, more advanced versions of the creatures. They were the same size but ran on all fours, their claws digging into the ground as they went. Their teeth hung out of their mouth as if they were too big to fit in. And their eyes weren't sealed shut but would appear to be if you just glanced at them. They were tiny slits, where if you looked hard enough you could see the glint of red eyes. Looking at their bodies without the blood and goo, Albus realised they looked very human like. Apart from the claws of course. He glanced back to the other creatures and with a shock noticed the resemblance between them and a fetus or a newborn baby. Even the goo and blood were like newborn babies.

'I think they want to eat us,' Scorpius said faintly, causing Albus to turn his attention back to the three creatures advancing towards them.

They were opening their mouths widely as they got closer, as if preparing themselves to attack.

'Run,' was all Albus said as he darted past the creatures under the tree.

He could hear Scorpius running behind him but didn't dare look behind, not wanting to see those awful creatures. However he knew they were close, as they had begun letting out wails as they ran. As Albus began to grow tired, and his breath began to become uneven, a large wolf appeared in front of him. Albus halted quickly, not wanting to run into it and stared at it in confusion. Was he hallucinating? He had begun to feel dizzy as he'd run and he knew it was partially due to his blood loss.

However the wolf was real and let out a howl at the creatures. The creatures stopped abruptly and hissed at the wolf before turning and returning to where they came from. When Albus turned back to look at the wolf, it had gone.

Albus looked to the ground and noticed a pool of blood beside him that didn't belong to him. Looking up he saw Scorpius clutching his arm, which had multiple bite marks on it that looked deep. Blood was pouring out of each wound and Albus didn't even want to think about what could have been in the creature's saliva that had now entered Scorpius' bloodstream.

'Could anything worse happen?' Scorpius asked breathlessly.

He had spoken too soon, as lurking behind a tree was a creature just waiting to attack him. Albus, who was still feeling dizzy, stared at the creature as it moved forwards slowly. Albus blinked, trying to focus himself as he tried to figure out what it was. The creature moved forward and the moonlight hit him, causing Albus to gasp. His pale gaunt face looked familiar from his bedtime stories and as he opened his mouth, Albus saw his sharp fangs. Without thinking, Albus moved forward as the vampire launched himself at Scorpius. Albus pushed Scorpius down and felt a sharp pain as the vampire's fangs sank into his neck before everything went black.

Albus didn't know how long he was unconscious for. He became aware of urgent voices multiple times but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't comprehend what they were saying, and he fall back into a state of unconsciousness quickly.

'Will he be okay?' was the first thing Albus was able to understand when he was once again awoken. Confusion clouded Albus' head as he tried to figure out whom the voice belonged to. He thought it might belong to Scorpius but that wouldn't make sense. The voice sounded concerned. Why would Scorpius care?

Albus tried to open his eyes but immediately shut them as the bright light hit him. It was obviously daytime and the light was too much for Albus. He was hit with a headache due to the light and he didn't hear the response as he once again drifted out of consciousness.

The next time he awoke he was feeling much more alert. He opened his eyes, blinking constantly as he tried to force his eyes not to snap closed. As he squinted around he could tell that it was nighttime, which he was thankful for as he could now see properly.

He noticed he was in some kind of hospital ward but he knew it wasn't the Hogwarts hospital wing. As he sat up and his vision tilted and became blurry he realised he must be in St. Mungo's Hospital. Albus frowned as he tried to remember what had happened. With a jolt, his hand flew up to his neck where he'd been bitten. The side of his neck that had been bitten had bandages on it and Albus wondered why they were there. Couldn't they just have healed him? He glanced down to his arms, which too had bandages all over them. Feeling sick, Albus remembered the awful creatures in the forest.

Albus glanced around the wing he was in and noticed it was empty apart from two beds. One bed he could see an old man in who was snoring loudly. The other was occupied by Scorpius. He too had bandages covering his arms where he'd been bitten.

Albus lay his head down on the pillow, suddenly feeling exhausted. He had too many questions and no way of finding out the answers. He tried to stay awake but his eyes drooped and within seconds he'd fallen asleep.

He was awoken the next morning to the crying of a child. Albus, who was still feeling tired, tried to ignore it, but as he listened he thought it sounded familiar. He suddenly felt someone shake him.

'Lily,' he heard his father's voice say sharply which only caused her to cry harder.

'It's okay Lil,' Albus managed to murmur.

He opened his eyes tiredly and saw his little sister staring at him. Her eyes were wide and wet but she smiled as she saw her brother open his eyes. Before he could stop her she had climbed onto his already small bed and lay down next to him.

'They said you were going to die!' she sniffed as she hugged Albus awkwardly.

'Where did you hear that?' Ginny asked, looking at her daughter disapprovingly.

'It's not that hard to eavesdrop,' murmured Lily before she let out a wail of protest as he father lifted her from the bed.

Albus sat up slowly, not wanting to get dizzy again. His mother and father were staring at him in concern.

'I'm fine,' he told them, not sure that he was.

His mother let out a sniff as she went over and hugged her son. He winced slightly as she hit his neck, which throbbed painfully.

'I told you we shouldn't let them use muggle techniques,' Ginny told Harry, looking angry, as she stared at Albus' neck.

Harry sighed. 'Pye knows what he's doing. Plus muggles survive well enough with their techniques.'

'They don't get bitten by vampires or…' Ginny trailed off glancing down at Albus' arms.

'We don't even know what those creatures were. Spells might backfire and make it worse. Plus Pye helped to heal your father, and he survived so he must know what he's doing,' Harry said gently.

Before they could argue further, a man pulled back the curtain that separated the beds and grinned at Albus.

'Nice to see you awake,' he said cheerfully.

Albus wasn't sure he liked him. Healers weren't normally that cheerful, though he had been to a few muggle doctors and they all had fake cheerful voices, so perhaps he was trying to imitate them.

'I'll just check on your wounds,' he told Albus before glancing to his parents. 'Would you like to stay while I do this?'

Ginny nodded silently while Harry told Lily to go play somewhere for ten minutes. She didn't look impressed but apparently this had happened before and she knew there was no point in arguing. She simply sighed and left them. Albus wondered how bad his wounds were that they wouldn't let Lily see.

He saw his parents faces pale as Pye changed the dressing on his neck and was glad that he couldn't see his the bite. However he could see his arms and he wished he couldn't as Pye undressed and cleaned them. The scratches had obviously become infected and had swollen up. They were sensitive to touch and Albus winced as he cleaned them. Ginny looked like she was going to say something when she saw her son in pain but Harry simply gripped her hand and she stopped.

As Pye redressed his arms, he smiled brightly. 'They've improved a great deal. I wasn't sure we would be able to save your arms when I first saw them.'

Harry looked slightly annoyed at Pye telling his son this but didn't say anything and simply asked, 'What about the vampire bite?'

'Ah, yes, that's healing nicely as well. There was never really anything to worry about there. It was the blood loss that worried us, but we've managed to transfer blood into his body. Amazing technology muggles have, don't they?'

Ginny didn't look like she agreed.

'Won't I get turned into a vampire?' Albus asked worriedly.

Pye let out a slight laugh. 'Oh no, my dear boy. You'd have had to drink from the vampire's blood for that to happen. You had no vampire blood in you.'

Albus let out a sigh of relief. That was what he'd been worrying about.

'What happened to Scorpius? Will he be okay?' he suddenly asked.

'The other boy? Ah, well his wounds are much more serious. He was actually bitten and some sort of saliva or venom has gotten into his system. We've been trying to wash it out and it looks like it's working but we won't know for a couple of days. He wouldn't have survived if he'd been the one who'd gotten bitten however.'

At this Albus suddenly felt glad that he'd pushed Scorpius aside and had gotten bitten instead.

'I'm afraid that visiting hours are almost up, so I'll leave you to say goodbye to Albus,' Pye told Harry and Ginny before leaving.

'We'll be back tomorrow,' Harry told Albus as he kissed his forehead.

Ginny once again sniffed – though she tired to conceal it – and hugged her son carefully.

'What about James?' Albus asked. He'd been wondering where his brother was.

Harry and Ginny glanced at each other.

'Is he still acting strange?' Albus asked, his heart dropping.

'How long has that been going on?' Ginny asked, looking worried.

'About a month.'

'We'll discuss it later,' Harry told Ginny before she could ask another question. 'We need to let Albus rest.'

Ginny paused but nodded and they turned to leave.

'Can you try get him to visit me tomorrow?' Albus called after them.

'Of course,' Harry said, smiling slightly, though he looked doubtful.

They left, leaving Albus to his own thoughts. As they were leaving he heard Lily wailing that she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Albus. Albus smirked, he hadn't realised how much he'd missed his little sister. He was just settling down to go to sleep when the curtain swung open and Scorpius, with much struggle, walked in. He walked over to the chair beside Albus' bed and sat down with relief.

'You have no idea how long it took me to just walk here,' Scorpius panted. He looked pale and gaunt, and Albus wondered how he'd lost so much weight.

'What're you doing here?' Albus asked after Scorpius just sat in the chair for a few minutes.

'I came to thank you,' Scorpius said with a little difficulty. 'I heard what Pye said. If it wasn't for you I'd be dead.'

Albus shrugged. He wasn't used to being thanked, especially not by someone like Scorpius.

'No problem.'

Scorpius laughed before wincing. 'I was wrong about you. And my family were wrong about your family.'

Albus stared at Scorpius strangely before asking, 'In what sense?'

'I thought you were a coward, and full of yourself just because you were a Potter. I guess I shouldn't have judged you before I got to know you,' Scorpius said, sighing. 'Our parents didn't like each other. I thought that meant that I automatically had to dislike you and your family.'

Albus stared at him in shock. He'd never heard Scorpius speak like this. He seemed more comfortable than when he was taunting people.

'I always thought that being in Slytherin meant you had to hate the other houses and make fun of others. It was a stupid thing to think.'

'Yeah, it was,' Albus agreed, thinking of Megan who proved that not all Slytherin's were bad.

Scorpius, instead of getting angry like he normally would have, simply laughed.

'That's not me,' Scorpius suddenly said after a few moments of silence. 'The arrogant, taunting, horrible person I pretend to be. It's what my grandfather taught me Malfoy's and Slytherin's should be like.'

'What about your father?' Albus asked. He'd always thought Scorpius' behaviour came from his father.

'He never really said much about the way I should act. My mother tried to get me to act snobby and posh, but never cruel. The one time I asked my father about your dad he simply said he had saved his life and that he was immensely grateful for that. He never said a bad thing about your family. Then again he never really said anything about your family, but still. You think he's such a bad person but he's not really.'

Scorpius stared at Albus intently as if willing him to understand. Albus wasn't sure. He'd heard horrible things about Draco, but people did change. And what did it matter what someone's father had done? He'd been judging Scorpius mostly on what his father had done, just like Scorpius had been judging Albus based on him being a Potter.

'I believe you,' Albus said. He _did_ believe that Scorpius really thought his father was a good person.

Scorpius smiled in relief.

'If you really want to blame someone, blame my grandfather.'

'You don't seem to like him,' Albus noticed.

'Not particularly,' was all Scorpius said, looking slightly irritated as he thought back to his grandfather. Albus wondered what he'd done.

Albus stared at Scorpius and suddenly laughed causing Scorpius to stare at him in surprise.

'What?' he asked.

'You're like a whole new person,' Albus said. 'Who'd have thought that you actually had a heart?'

Scorpius rolled his eyes. 'I'm not that good. I did believe a lot of the things I said to you and Rose. I don't anymore of course, especially after meeting your sister.'

'You met Lily?'

Scorpius laughed. 'Whenever she got sent out by your parents she went and talked to me.'

Albus laughed. It was such a Lily thing to do. Scorpius grinned too before his face became serious.

'I _am _sorry for the things I said and did. I thought it was the way I was supposed to act, and the Slytherin's liked me so much more when I acted cruel. But I felt so guilty when I did,' Scorpius said before pausing. 'And I'd like if we could become friends. Only if you want to of course.'

Albus grinned at Scorpius' worried face. 'I'd like that too. Though I have a feeling our friendship will be have to be a secret one.'

'Why do you say that?'

'Even though you've admitted all this to me, I don't think you'd admit it to everyone else. You're still going to continue to act the same way, aren't you? And if you are, it would be strange for you to be friends with someone you had hated so much only a week ago.'

Scorpius paused before nodding. Albus shrugged, he'd known that Scorpius could never really come clean to the Slytherin's and his family.

The minutes ticked by and Scorpius began to look worried again. Finally he said, 'Albus, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me. Although I'm sorry for the things I've done and said, and I regret the way I thought about your family, at the time I did believe the things I said. I really did hate your family. I'm not a nice, charming person deep down like you think I am. I'm a horrible person. I think terrible thoughts that I feel guilty for thinking. But I can't help but think them.'

Scorpius paused and took a deep breath. 'I want to be a good person. I really do. It's just not in my nature. It's like I'm programmed to do awful things and to think terrible things. I'll think them and do them and feel amazing but then I feel guilty for enjoying it. Do you understand?'

Albus smiled slightly as Scorpius said all this.

'I think you overthink things. I get it, you think just because you're a Malfoy and a Slytherin, you have to automatically bad. But that's not true. And even though you enjoy doing evil things, you feel bad about them, so there must be some good in you. People aren't just good or evil. There's both inside everyone,' Albus said, trying to make Scorpius understand. 'You're choosing the path of good by realising that you don't want to be like your ancestors.'

'So you'd still want to be my friend even after all the things I've said to you?' Scorpius asked nervously.

'Of course,' Albus told him seriously.

Scorpius face turned from worry to relief and they grinned at each other. And thus began the unusual and strong friendship between a Potter and a Malfoy.


	10. Recovery

**Chapter Ten: Recovery**

1 April 2018 – 2 April 2018

Albus was in hospital for over a month, as was Scorpius. None of the healers could understand what had attacked them. They'd never heard of creatures like the ones they described.

Both the boys also had to give countless interviews to people from the Ministry of Magic in regards to what the creatures looked like and how they acted. The Ministry sent in teams of wizards into the Forbidden Forest but none could find anything. One wizard came back to St. Mungo's and started screaming at them for wasting the Ministry's time with their jokes. The healers weren't impressed at all with him and told him that shouting wouldn't help them or the other patients get better. They then, as calmly as possible, pointed out the venom that nobody had seen before in Scorpius' system. With a lot of grumbling, the wizard finally left, though he still doubted the creatures existed.

Albus' wounds healed quicker than Scorpius' as he hadn't been bitten and therefore had no venom in his system, though he did have a lot of bacteria from the creature's claws. When he was finally only left with the scars, the healers used spells to get rid of them. Albus was thankful for this, as he didn't fancy living the rest of his life looking mauled.

Scorpius wasn't as lucky as Albus. Albus had began to feel better as soon as he woke up, but Scorpius drifted from bad to good to worse multiple times a week. They tried all sorts of muggle antibiotics but they didn't work. When one of his kidney's shut down, the healers were disgusted when Pye announced he was going to do a kidney transplant. They didn't believe it would work but for some reason Draco gave his consent, much to Lucius' disgust who was appalled that they were using muggle techniques on his grandson. The transplant went well and along with purifying Scorpius' blood, the venom was finally removed from his system.

James didn't come to see Albus no matter how many times he wrote and asked. He didn't even bother replying to his letters. This only made Albus' recovery time longer as him worrying about his brother didn't help him get better. Finally one day, much to Albus' surprise, James appeared at the foot of his bed looking awkward. He was looking pale and gaunt which only furthered Albus' worry.

'Hey,' James greeted as he sat in the seat beside Albus' bed.

Albus stared at him, examining his tired face.

'How are you feeling?' James asked when Albus didn't reply.

'How are _you _feeling?' Albus returned.

James swallowed before answering in a fake voice, 'Amazing, as always.'

Albus glared at his brother. 'James, what's going on? Tell me.'

James was about to brush it off when he saw Albus' persistent face and sighed before mumbling, 'Fine.'

Albus waited for James to speak.

'You know the way before Christmas I was acting strange?' James asked, not really knowing where to begin.

Albus frowned. He thought James had been acting strange for basically the whole year. But he remembered that it had started before Christmas so he nodded his head.

'Well Teddy discovered that I'd been getting slipped a hypnotizing potion and I'd been hypnotized to do… things.'

'What kind of things?' Albus asked, not liking the sound of where this was going.

'To kidnap students and take them to a cave in the Forbidden Forest,' James said, not looking at his brother.

'How do you know that?' Albus asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

James looked up and Albus saw the guilt in his eyes.

'I pretended to take the potion and I received a letter one night saying to kidnap a girl called Abigail in my year and bring her to the cave,' James said. 'And I did.'

'What happened in the cave?' Albus asked as he tried not to judge his brother.

'There was some weird machines and the old lady who hypnotized me told me they were used to clone things. And there were weird creatures in these cages and they looked partly human but completely savage.'

James struggled to control his breathing as he thought back to the horrible night. He looked at Albus.

'I think they were the same things that attacked you and Scorpius.'

Albus nodded. He'd been thinking that as well.

'But what are they?' Albus asked in confusion.

'Haven't you realised? They're clones. Or at least they were meant to be. They obviously all went horribly wrong. There's a huge dumpsite for the ones that died during the cloning process. I assume she just lets the others go loose when she's done with them,' James said. 'That's why she needed the students; to use their DNA and body parts for cloning and experiments.'

Albus felt sick as he said, 'So that girl, Abigail, she's dead?'

'No,' muttered James. 'She was there the last time I visited.'

'How many times have you gone back?' Albus asked, looking angry.

James looked guilty. 'A couple of times, but I haven't brought any other students! And Abigail's fine. That old lady is treating her like she's a princess because her DNA might be the perfect one to clone or something.'

'Why didn't you tell anyone?'

James sighed in annoyance. 'Like they'd believe me. They barely believed you and Scorpius, and the only reason they did was because Scorpius had venom in his system. And it's not like I haven't tried. A wolf meets me to bring me into the forest every time that hag summons me. But whenever I try to bring along a teacher, the wolf doesn't turn up.'

Albus chewed on his lip. 'But surely the teachers must have noticed that the students are going missing?'

'That's the thing,' James said frowning. 'They're not. I asked Slughorn what he thought of Abigail not being in class and he looked at me blankly before asking who Abigail was. Apparently she's not on the class list, and nobody even remembers her. I know she wasn't that popular, but nobody can be that unpopular.'

'Somebody must be casting spells to make the students disappear from people's memories,' Albus guessed as James nodded.

'It's not that old woman. I doubt she's powerful enough. It has to be someone in the castle,' James said thoughtfully.

'You should go to McGonagall with this,' Albus said seriously.

James face fell. 'I did after you and Scorpius got attacked.'

Albus guessed McGonagall wasn't impressed with James for not having spoken sooner. He could only guess what she'd said to James and it wasn't good going by the look on his face. He decided to drop the subject of McGonagall seeing as James already had enough to feel guilty about.

'Who is the woman then? Why's she so interested in cloning?'

James shrugged, sitting back. He was feeling a lot better now that he'd come clean to both his brother and McGonagall.

'I can't ask her anything, she still thinks I'm hypnotized,' James said regretfully.

Albus sighed. 'Well do you know how she got rid of all the creatures? There must have been hundreds, and you said there was an area full of dead ones.'

James shook his head. 'No idea, though I assume the spy in Hogwarts must've used a spell or something. Or maybe she's other people working for her.'

Albus lay back, thinking about the strange old woman. Why did she want the ability to clone so badly? He looked over at his brother and saw him glancing at the clock on his locker.

'Somewhere to be?'

James nodded, looking nervous. 'I asked to meet mum and dad for lunch. McGonagall let me come visit you for the day, so I decided I might as well tell mum and dad about why I've been acting so weird as well. I better get going, I don't want to be late.'

Albus nodded and as his brother was leaving he told him, 'Good luck.'

Albus lay back again and tried to gather the strength to get up and go talk to Scorpius about the whole thing when Violet suddenly appeared in front of him. She smiled shyly at him but he didn't smile back. Something seemed off about her.

'I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to reply to your letters,' she said, thinking that was the reason for him not smiling back. 'I've just been so busy. I really am sorry that I didn't get to visit you sooner as well. But McGonagall banned visits. I had to beg her at least one hundred times for her to finally let me come.'

'Why did she ban visits?' Albus asked in confusion.

Violet looked at him in surprise. 'Because so many people wanted to visit you. Plus the hospital is basically letting no visitors in at all because you're here. You have to go through loads of security and answers questions just to be allowed in.'

'Why?'

Violet laughed as she sat on the side of his bed. 'You're a Potter. Do you know the amount of photographers that are waiting outside the hospital right now? And the amount of articles written about you is phenomenal.'

Albus sighed. Why hadn't his parents told him? Maybe they didn't want him to get a big head. He doubted that would happen though. It was more annoying than flattering.

'Hello, Scorpius,' Violet suddenly said without looking away from Albus.

Albus looked behind her and saw Scorpius standing at the end of the bed, gripping it. He was still weak. He made his way over to the chair and sat down before saying, 'Hello.'

Scorpius stared at Violet with suspicious eyes. Albus sighed, not him too.

'You two are friends now?' Violet asked in a voice that was meant to sound casual.

Scorpius shrugged. 'Maybe it was the venom, but somehow Albus doesn't seem that annoying anymore. You, on the other hand, are still as annoying as ever.'

Violet smirked slightly. 'And how's your head? Is your memory still gone?'

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her before turning his expression to one of cheerfulness.

'You'll be happy to know my memory is starting to return.'

Violet's face dropped but she tried to cover it up by turning back to Albus and saying, 'You haven't missed much while you've been away. I took extra notes in case you want them for the end of year exams though.'

'Thanks,' Albus said, smiling at her gratefully, causing Scorpius to roll his eyes.

'Do you know what attacked you in the forest?' Violet asked, looking concerned.

Albus shrugged. 'Some kind of half human creature. Not even the healers here or the Ministry of Magic know what it was.'

Violet looked disgusted. 'Half human?'

'Do you want to see one of their bite marks?' Scorpius asked, grinning. 'There's one that's really badly infected. If you press it pus comes out. Want to see?'

Violet looked like she wanted to throw up as she stood up and said coolly, 'No, thank you.'

'You should've showed James, he'd have loved it,' Albus said grinning.

This caught Violet's attention. 'James was here? I thought he wasn't visiting you?'

Albus wondered why she was so interested in his brother but answered anyway, 'Yeah, he was here just before you came.'

'What did he want?'

'To check on his brother I'd imagine,' Scorpius said in a sarcastic voice. 'Didn't you hear? Albus was attacked by a horrible creature and nearly died!'

Violet glared at Scorpius. She clenched her fists before looking away and forcing a smile on her face.

'I think it's time I head back to Hogwarts. McGonagall said I had to be as quick as possible,' Violet said.

They said goodbye, with a sarcastic one thrown in by Scorpius, before she left.

'Let me guess,' Albus said before Scorpius said anything. 'She's awful, evil, the daughter of Satan, and I shouldn't be friends with her.'

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. 'I couldn't care less who you're friends with. I just don't trust her and I refuse to be nice to her. Be friends with her if you wish, doesn't bother me.'

Albus smirked. Of course Scorpius would be the only one who didn't care that he was friends with Violet. Albus frowned as he thought of Violet. She was definitely acting strange.

The next morning the two of them were released from the hospital and were allowed back to Hogwarts. Although they weren't fully better, they weren't ill enough to be in St. Mungo's. Once they arrived back at Hogwarts (after an escort from the Ministry) they were taken to the hospital wing where Pye instructed Madam Pomfrey on how to care for Scorpius' wounds. She looked mildly interested but Albus had a feeling she'd prefer to treat Scorpius with spells and potions, not muggle ways. However she didn't say anything and simply listened intently.

They were kept in the hospital wing until dinner, which they were allowed out for. Scorpius and Albus walked awkwardly in as people whispered and stared upon seeing them. Before Albus could feel too awkward however, Rose flew herself at him and was hugging him tightly.

'I'm so sorry Albus,' she kept repeating as she hugged him.

Albus felt confused for a while before he laughed and said, 'Are you talking about the Hufflepuff thing? I forgave you a long time ago for that. I guess I overreacted slightly…'

Albus blushed, thinking of how childish he'd acted.

Rose still looked worried as she said, 'I wanted to come visit you but they wouldn't let me, and then I didn't know if you even wanted to see me.'

'It's fine,' Albus tried to reassure her.

Rose was about to reply when she noticed that Scorpius was standing beside Albus still. She looked at him in confusion. It suddenly dawned on Albus that it was odd that they had walked in together. Scorpius seemed to realise this at the same time.

'Try not to faint again,' Scorpius said as he walked off. 'I won't always be there.'

'What was that about?' Rose asked as Scorpius walked off and joined the Slytherin table.

Albus laughed at Scorpius' feeble excuse.

'I fainted in the corridor and he helped me here,' lied Albus.

Rose raised her eyebrows as they walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down. 'That was kind of him.'

Albus shrugged. 'He's not that bad.'

He looked up and saw Rose staring at him in shock.

'Are you sure you didn't get venom in your system as well?'

Albus rolled his eyes and said, 'Let's not fight.'

Rose was about to reply when James sat down beside her. Albus was glad to see he was grinning. It wasn't his normal one, but it wasn't forced which made Albus smile.

'Who's up for some adventuring?' James asked.

'Going to try and find the cave without the wolf?' Albus guessed as he began eating.

James sighed dramatically. 'You ruined it.'

Albus rolled his eyes. 'It was hardly a master plan.'

'Hello?' Rose asked, waving her hands. 'What are you guys talking about?'

'You didn't tell her?' Albus asked, laughing.

James shrugged. 'She doesn't like rule breaking. Could you imagine what she'd do if I told her? She'd have a heart attack.'

'I'm still here. Stop talking about me like I'm not,' Rose said in irritation.

'Sorry, Rosie,' James said, not sounding sorry, as he tucked into his meal.

Rose couldn't stay mad at him. She, like Albus, was too happy to see James acting a least a bit like his normal self.

'Well are you going to tell me?' Rose asked after a few minutes.

James sighed dramatically again. 'Well, if I must.'

James and Albus spent the rest of dinner telling Rose the whole story, with many interruptions from her. At the end of the tale, almost the whole Gryffindor table was empty, and Rose was staring at them with her mouth open.

'And you want to go back to the cave?' Rose asked in disbelief. 'Are you insane?'

'I've been there before,' James said, shrugging.

Rose glared at him. 'Yeah, by yourself and when she ordered you to come.'

James shrugged again. 'We need to find it. And I need to rescue Abigail.'

Albus finally understood why he wanted to go back. It wasn't just about proving it existed.

'When'll we go?' Albus asked, causing Rose to turn to him in shock.

'You can't be serious?' she asked, though they both ignored her.

'Tomorrow night, maybe,' James said. 'If you're up for it.'

'I'm fine,' Albus said. 'Scorpius is the one who's still injured.'

'Good,' muttered Rose.

'It's settled then,' James said, getting up, still ignoring Rose.

'I'm coming,' Rose suddenly said, causing Albus and James both to pause as they turned to leave the hall.

'You?' James asked in disbelief.

'I have to break the rules some time,' Rose said, trying to sound brave.

James stared at her before grinning. 'Told you I'd get you to break the rules sometime during your time here.'

As they bickered playfully, Albus spotted Scorpius heading out of the Great Hall.

'I just have to check in with Madam Pomfrey before I go to bed,' Albus said as he walked quickly towards where Scorpius had gone. It was true, but that wasn't the reason he was leaving now. He had to talk to Scorpius.

'I'll meet you back in the common room,' James called after him.

Albus nodded but didn't reply. He walked out of the hall but didn't see Scorpius anywhere. Sighing, he decided he might as well go to the hospital wing now. However as he turned the corner he bumped into Scorpius.

'Hey,' Albus greeted but Scorpius didn't say anything.

Albus stared at him, wondering why he was acting so weird. Scorpius stared back before curling up his lip and growling at Albus. Albus didn't have time to respond as he raced off, making animalistic noises as he went.

Albus stared after him, deciding it was best not to follow. He turned back and continued on his way to the hospital wing, wondering what was wrong with Scorpius. As he made his way into the hospital wing he spotted Scorpius lying on the bed, waiting for Madam Pomfrey to come and change his bandages.

'How did you get here before me?' Albus asked in confusion.

Scorpius looked back at him with a blank face. 'What do you mean? I left the Great Hall in the middle of dinner because I wasn't feeling well.'

'You mean you were here about ten minutes ago?' Albus asked, already having a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.

'Yeah,' Scorpius answered slowly.

Albus' throat had become dry and he swallowed, beginning to feel slightly dizzy. If Scorpius had been here, who had that been?


	11. The Forbidden Forest

**Chapter Eleven: The Forbidden Forest**

13 May 2018

Unfortunately for Albus and James they weren't able to search the Forbidden Forest for the cave that night. The Ministry of Magic were being extra careful and had sent Aurors to protect the school. They guarded all the entrances out of Hogwarts and there was simply no way to get by them. Rose was slightly grateful that she had an excuse not to go wandering around the forest in the middle of the night. Although she'd said she wanted to go, she really didn't after some thought. She liked keeping the rules and even the thought of breaking them made her feel ill. Rose didn't say it to the others but she knew of numerous ways to get past the guards.

'Are you sure you don't know how to get by them?' James asked for the hundredth time as he and Rose walked towards the Great Hall for dinner.

Rose shook her head feeling the usual guilt. She didn't enjoy lying to James but the Forbidden Forest was too dangerous, especially after Albus had gotten attacked so badly in it.

James sighed. 'I guess we'll have to search in the library for an answer.'

Rose was about to agree when she spotted something in the corner of the corridor. She stopped walking and stared at it. James turned around, wondering why she'd stopped, when he too spotted it. He cautiously moved forwards, Rose following gingerly behind.

'It's Scorpius,' James said in a confused voice. 'I think.'

Rose frowned. How couldn't he be sure? She moved around him to get a better look and stared in horror at the thing lying before them. That couldn't possibly be Scorpius.

'That's not Scorpius.'

'Are you sure?' James asked, poking the body with his foot.

'It's can't be,' Rose said though she didn't sound sure. 'That thing is _melting_.'

The body, which really did look like Scorpius, _was _melting. Water seemed to be seeping out of the body and it's face seemed to melting off like wax.

'James! I have something to tell you. I found – ' Albus shouted down the corridor as he ran towards Rose and James. However as he got to them, he stopped talking.

'Found what?' James asked, not taking his eyes off the Scorpius lookalike.

'I found another Scorpius,' Albus finished off.

Rose looked at him and frowned. 'How do you know it's not just Scorpius?'

'Because I just saw him in the Great Hall and then I went off to find you two and ran into the clone. He growled and me and tried to attack me but I knocked him out.'

'Clone?' James asked. 'You think it was a clone?'

'Of course,' Albus said slowly as if wondering how his brother hadn't realised yet. 'And that must be one as well.'

'Of course,' muttered Rose.

'Where's the other one? We'll bring this one there as well and examine them together,' James decided.

Rose didn't even bother mentioning they should go tell McGonagall instead of examining possible clones. She knew they wouldn't listen to her. Instead she helped them lift the melting body. It was rather difficult since it kept slipping out of their hands.

'You brought him in here?' Rose asked in amazement as they made their way into the girl's bathroom.

Albus blushed. 'Nobody comes in here. Apparently it's haunted.'

Rose rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. They placed the body next to the other one and then stood up and stared at them both.

'Are you sure that's not the real Scorpius?' Rose asked, looking at the other body, which looked exactly like Scorpius.

'Yes.'

Rose sighed. 'Well what are we meant to do with them now?'

'Examine them,' James said as he took out a pocketknife.

Rose's mouth dropped open. 'We can't dissect them! Whatever they are, they're still living.'

James snorted and pointed to the melting one. 'Not that one.'

Before either of them could stop him, he'd cut into the body. Rose winced and waited for the blood to pour out, but none came. She looked over at Albus who couldn't bear to watch.

'Ugh, this is disgusting,' James said, wrinkling his nose. 'All the organs are made of goo and are melting.'

'Well you didn't have to cut it open,' Albus said weakly who was looking pale.

James shrugged and stood up. He glanced down at his hands, which were full of grey goo, as was his jumper. He looked up and grinned.

'Who wants a hug?' he asked, stretching out his hands.

Albus and Rose backed away from him.

'Go clean up,' Rose told up dryly as she rolled her eyes.

'How long do you think these clones how been lurking around here?' James asked as he washed his hands.

'At least since we got caught by Filch in the trophy room,' Albus said, still not looking at the melting body.

'What makes you say that?'

'Because Scorpius said that he never challenged us to a duel. Plus he hates snitches so why would he have snitched on us?' Albus explained.

Rose glanced at him but didn't ask why he'd been talking to Scorpius. She didn't think it was the appropriate time. She looked over at James who seemed to be wondering the same thing. He just shrugged and took of his jumper. He threw it onto the melting body.

'You can look now, I've covered it,' James told Albus.

Albus turned around, still looking pale. He glanced over at the clone that was still alive.

'What are we going to do with it?'

Rose kneeled down next to it. It looked so real that she couldn't imagine that it wasn't Scorpius. Before she could do anything however, its eyes had opened and it's lip curled upwards. It let out a low growl before pouncing on Rose. She let out a shriek but the clone only appeared to want to startle her. It ran out of the bathroom before the others had time to realise what was going on.

They stared at the doorway that the clone had just exited.

'Well that was unexpected,' James finally said.

Rose looked over at him and glared at his cheerful grin.

'We just let a crazy clone loose in Hogwarts, stop looking so happy!'

James rolled his eyes. 'Lighten up, Rosie. It was loose in Hogwarts long before we caught it.'

'We really need to find that cave,' Albus said, speaking what everyone else was thinking. 'Rose, are you sure you don't know how to get past those Aurors?'

Rose bit her lip as Albus stared at her. He obviously knew that she did. She wondered why he hadn't said something weeks ago.

'There is one thing we could do…' she muttered, avoiding James' eyes. 'We could put some sleeping draught in their goblets.'

Albus nodded his head. 'One of us could pretend to be the student that's meant to bring them their dinner.'

For some reason the Aurors refused to leave their posts, and the Auror that had the dinner shift would eat it at his post. Annoyingly, one student was picked each night to leave the Great Hall early and bring the Auror their dinner.

'Dinner is right now though,' James said. 'We'll need to hurry or else the real student will already have delivered it.'

'And we need some sleeping draught,' Albus said, still staring at Rose.

She blushed and wished he didn't know her so well.

'I have some in the Ravenclaw common room,' muttered Rose. 'I'll go get it now.'

'Al and I will go find the student and take the dinner,' James said. 'We'll meet you at the entrance nearest the Forbidden Forest.'

Rose ran towards common room and quickly grabbed the sleeping draught. As she ran back she began to realise how unfit she was. She arrived just as Albus and James did, feeling slightly out of breath.

'How did you get it off the student?' Rose asked, referring to the dinner.

James shrugged. 'Nobody really wants to walk all the way here just to give somebody else their dinner. We just said we were going that way anyway.'

Rose nodded as she poured the sleeping draught into the goblet.

'You'll have to deliver it,' James told her, causing her to look up in panic. 'Al and I are known for trouble now. They'll never suspect you.'

'Al isn't really known for getting in trouble,' Rose tried to protest but knew it was useless.

They stared at her for a moment before she sighed. 'Fine.'

She grabbed the tray with the dinner and goblet on it and walked slowly around the corner where she saw an Auror looked bored, standing guard at the door. He smiled as he saw her coming.

'I was just wondering what was taking so long,' he said grinning. 'Just put it down there.'

He pointed to a table beside the door that had a chair tucked into it. Rose shakily but the tray down as the man thanked her. She slowly walked away, waiting for the sound of him falling to the ground as he fell asleep but it never came. She looked behind and frowned as she realised he hadn't taken a sip from the goblet.

'Is he asleep?' whispered James as she rounded the corner.

'No, he hasn't drunken any yet,' hissed Rose.

James poked his head around and groaned. 'He's sitting with his back to us. He could fall asleep and we wouldn't even know.'

'We'll just have to wait a few minutes and chance it,' Albus said, biting his lip.

They waited impatiently as time seemed to tick by slower than usual. Finally James got annoyed at waiting so long and strolled towards the man. Albus and Rose hung back.

'Are you coming or what?' they heard James shout a few seconds later.

'Stop shouting,' hissed Rose as she ran quietly towards him.

She glanced at the Auror who was dozing in the chair. James opened the door and they were hit with a cold breeze as they stepped outside.

'I'm not sure about this…' Rose said as they walked towards the Forbidden Forest but neither James nor Albus replied.

James suddenly stopped and Rose wondered if he was changing his mind. However he appeared to be staring at something in the Forbidden Forest.

'What's wrong?' Albus asked, staring at his brother.

'Damian,' muttered James.

'Who?'

'The wolf I told you about. The one who brings me to the cave,' James told them.

'What about him?' Rose asked impatiently.

'He's there.'

Rose and Albus glanced around and saw the wolf sitting patiently, waiting for them.

'Well I guess we should follow him,' Albus said, forcing a smile and walking ahead.

Rose reluctantly followed after. As they arrived at the wolf it stood up and walked off. They followed after him for what seemed like hours though probably wasn't even one hour. Rose shivered with the cold and with fear. She didn't have a good feeling about this. She looked at James who was frowning. He looked over and saw her staring. She raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was frowning.

He shook his head but moments later said, 'I don't think this is the right way.'

Albus stopped and looked back. Damian too stopped and sat patiently, waiting for them to move again.

'Why not? You said the wolf brought you every time.'

James nodded slowly. 'Yes, but I've been to the cave enough times to recognise certain things along the path to it, and I haven't' seen any of them.'

Albus sighed in irritation. 'Well it's dark out, perhaps that's why you didn't see them.'

'This isn't the right way,' James said with certainty. 'I'm going to go and try find it myself.'

'Fine, but I'm staying with Damian. I want to see where he brings us,' Albus said, trying not to raise his voice.

James stared at his brother before turning to Rose. 'Who are you staying with?'

Rose glanced between her cousins. 'Albus. That wolf is the only one who knows the way out of here. Sorry, James.'

James nodded, already knowing the answer.

'Well I guess I'll see you back at the castle,' he told them before walking off.

Rose looked at Albus, silently urging him to stop James. However Albus looked in shock. Apparently he, like Rose, hadn't thought James would actually leave.

'James, you'll get lost!' Rose shouted to him as he began to disappear into the forest.

'Don't worry about me, Rosie!' came his response though the darkness had already surrounded him and she could no longer see him.

Rose sighed and stared at Damian who wagged his tail at her.

'Come on,' she muttered to Albus as she walked by him and followed Damian who had begun moving again.

Albus stayed quiet for the majority of their long walk to wherever Damian was taking them. He seemed to be worrying about his brother. Rose wanted to say something reassuring but she too was worried and didn't know what to say.

Finally they came to a large clearing in the forest. Damian stopped walking and sat down. He stared at them as if waiting for their reaction. It hit them both at the same time.

'James was right,' muttered Albus. 'That old woman must have told Damian to take us as far away from the cave as possible.'

'But how did she know we would search for the cave tonight?' Rose asked as she stared around.

Albus shrugged. 'The spy? Or maybe she just sent Damian to sit at the entrance every night in case we came.'

Rose didn't reply. She was too busy staring at the ground of the clearing. Albus frowned, noticing it for the first time. He opened his mouth to ask what it was but was cut off by Rose.

'Ashes,' she told him.

He stared at her in horror and dropped the handful of ashes he'd just picked up. '_Ashes?'_

Rose nodded. 'Of the creatures I assume. Though I don't know how a fire went unnoticed by the Ministry.'

'She probably wiped their memories. Though how she covered it up isn't really a huge concern. We need to show this to McGonagall and the Ministry.'

'But how? Damian brought us here. I don't think I could find it again, and I doubt that Damian would bring the Ministry back here.' Rose said, feeling hopeless.

She looked to Albus but he wasn't listening. He was staring across the clearing and into the forest. Rose was about to ask what he was looking at when she saw it too. It was difficult to see them at first as they moved so slowly.

'I think they're clones of Abigail,' whispered Rose as they slowly moved forward.

The clones walked strangely; some limping, some crawling, and some being dragged, as they had no legs. A lot of them had limbs missing. Some had no arms, others had no legs, and one even had no head and kept bumping into the others. They all walked lopsidedly, reminding Rose of zombies. Their constant growling and upturned lips made them less human and more animalistic.

'What do we do?' Rose whispered, hoping that Albus wouldn't just freeze up.

Albus blinked before looking at his cousin. 'We fight them.'

'I'm not killing them,' Rose said in shock.

Albus looked at her sympathetically. 'We have to.'

'No we don't. We can just leave. They're much slower than us.'

'They'll follow us and we'll lead them straight to Hogwarts. Or worse, they could run into James,' Albus told her and Rose knew he was right.

She pulled out her wand and took a deep breath as she stared at the group coming towards her. There were more of them than she thought. More and more clones kept walking out from behind the trees and Rose wondered how many there really were.

'Expelliarmus!' shouted Rose, pointing her wand straight at the clone that seemed to try to be running at her.

The spell hit the clone, causing it to fly backwards and hit a nearby tree. As it hit the tree, it fell to pieces, as if it was a doll. It's limbs fell apart and Rose stared at it in horror.

She turned to Albus but he just shrugged and took out his wand as he said, 'At least they're weak.'

As they fought against the seemingly endless amount of clones, they began to become exhausted. The clones moved slowly but there were so many and Albus and Rose were only first years with basic spells.

Albus suddenly dropped his wand in a panic as two clones advanced on him at once. Rose stopped and stared at him, feeling torn between attacking the clones and risking being attacked herself or leaving him and hoping he'd get to his wand before the clones got him. He stumbled on the ground but managed to pick it up in time. Rose smiled in relief but it didn't last long. A sharp pain in her arm caused her to drop her wand. She looked down and saw a legless clone gripping her arm with both hands and chomping down on it with its teeth. She watched in horror as it bit a huge chunk of flesh away from her arm. She tried to push it off but it was no use, the clone was gripping her too tightly. She looked to Albus for help but the final four clones surrounded him. Just as she'd accepted the fact she was going to lose her arm and quite possibly her life, she heard a deep growl and seconds later Damian pounced on the clone, ripping it's head off within seconds.

Rose collapsed to the group, keeping her eyes off her arm. She searched for her wand with her one good hand while Damian watched her with ears drooped and what looked like worry in his eyes.

'What happened?' she heard Albus ask as he kneeled down next to her.

She looked up and glanced around for any other clones but they were all dead. Albus was looking at her arm, looking sick.

'You can see –' he began but Rose glared at him, telling him to shut up. She already knew what he was going to say. Her bone was visible. She pulled her sleeve over her arm, not wanting to look at it. She ignored the pain as she searched for her wand again.

'You need to go find James,' Rose told Albus as she finally located her wand.

'On my own?' Albus asked looking nervous.

'Well I can't exactly go with part of my arm missing. I need to get back to Hogwarts,' Rose told him.

'But how will you get back? And how will I find James? I can't exactly ask the wolf to bring me,' Albus asked looking desperate, before saying sarcastically, 'Come on, Damian, bring me to the scary woman.'

Damian glanced at Albus in disinterest before turning back to Rose. Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

'Bring Albus to the cave,' she told him.

'Are you serious?' Albus asked, laughing. His laughter was cut off however when Damian stood up and strode off. He paused and glanced back at Albus impatiently.

Rose smirked. 'I'd hurry if I were you. I don't think he likes you.'

'Of course he doesn't,' muttered Albus as he stood up. He followed after Damian before looking back at Rose in worry.

'How will you get back without Damian?'

Rose smiled. 'Don't worry about me. I'll send up flares using my wand. There's enough Aurors around the perimeter of Hogwarts, one of them is bound to see it.'

Albus nodded before racing after Damian who had begun running. As he ran, he hoped he wasn't too late to save James.


End file.
